Centre and States need to talk on reducing taxes on fuels: Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the government’s intent was not to shut down the public sector units, but it wanted the private sector to infuse more capital and bring efficiency in their operations. 

She was addressing the representatives of trade, business, tax professionals and representatives of Gujarat Chambers of Commerce and Industries in Ahmedabad yesterday. In her post-budget discussion, she said that there are some PSUs which couldn’t be run by the government and still the taxpayers' money is being poured in to keep them alive.

 

Referring to the banking sector’s reforms and disinvestments, the Finance Minister has said that the government wanted banks to



run professionally. She said that India’s banks are big enough and scale up to meet with the demands of our growing economy.

 

Ms. Sitharaman has also addressed an interactive session at IIM-Ahmedabad under the JSW School of Public Policy lecture. Replying to a query about the rising petroleum prices, she said that there is a need for the Centre and the States to talk about reducing the taxes on fuels to ease the burden on consumers. 

She called it a major dilemma for the Centre to commit a timeframe to bring down the taxes on petrol and diesel. She said that it is not just the cess, but an excise duty of the Centre and then VAT by the states.