Kerala announces tax cut on petrol, diesel

New Delhi: Hours after the Central government announced excise duty cuts on petrol and diesel, the Kerala government has reduced the state tax on the two essential commodities. The Left government's Finance Minister, KN Balagopal, has said that the state will reduce its tax on petrol and diesel by Rs 2.41 per litre to Rs 1.36 per litre.

"The Kerala government announces a cut in tax on petrol and diesel by Rs 2.41 and Rs 1.36 respectively," he was quoted as saying by the news agency ANI. 

Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress has attacked the Centre over the move, saying it has the capacity to decrease the excise duty further. 

"It is not good enough as (Central Govt) increased the price of petrol and diesel by Rs 10 recently. The Central government still has the flexibility to reduce excise duty more instead of pressuring the states (to reduce VAT) as the state's finances are mostly in difficulty," TMC MP Saugata Roy said.

In a series of tweets, Nirmala Sitharaman said the central government is reducing the excise duty on petrol by Rs 8 and on diesel by Rs 6.

"We are reducing the Central excise duty on petrol by Rs 8 per litre and on diesel by Rs 6 per litre. This will reduce the price of petrol by Rs 9.5 per litre and of Diesel by Rs 7 per litre," she tweeted.

The minister urged the states to reduce the value added tax to provide more relief.

"I wish to exhort all state governments, especially the states where reduction wasn’t done during the last round (November 2021), to also implement a similar cut and give relief to the common man," she tweeted.