Petro products need to be brought under GST: Dharmendra Pradhan

Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday stressed on bringing petroleum products under the GST to provide relief to common people from spurt in fuel prices following surging global crude oil rates.

Both the central and state governments have started making up their mind in this regard, he said.

Petroleum products are out of GST ambit which was rolled out in July last year.

"The prices of petroleum products are all time high in past four years in international market due to some disturbances in Syria and US's threats to impose fresh sanctions on Iran," Pradhan told reporters here.

"Government of India is concerned over it...petroleum products have to be brought under the purview of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) but since this is the first year of the implementation of GST, so states are concerned and hesitant about their income," the minister said while responding to a query in this regard.

The minister, who was accompanied by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, state Labour Resources Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha and Bihar BJP vice-president Devesh Kumar, was talking to reporters here at party office after launching the second phase of extended Ujjwala yojana at Baheri block in Darbhanga district.