ITANAGAR, 5 Nov: Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Thursday announced that his government has reduced the value-added tax (VAT) rates on petrol and diesel by 5.5 percent, a day after the Centre slashed excise duty on fuel.
The revised VAT rates will be applicable in the state from the midnight of 5 November, he said.
With the reduction of the central and state taxes, the price of petrol will be Rs 91.87 per litre, while diesel will be available at Rs 79.83 a litre in the state from the midnight of Friday.
“Arunachal government is also pleased to announce the reduction of state VAT on petrol from existing 20 percent to 14.5 percent and diesel from 12.5 percent to 7 percent. Thank you Hon’ble PM Shri @narendramodi ji for reducing Central Excise duty on Petrol & Diesel on this auspicious (Diwali) day,” Khandu said on Twitter.
Petrol will be cheaper by over Rs 10 per litre and diesel by around Rs 15, he said.
“Consumers will benefit by Rs 10.20 per litre in petrol and Rs 15.22 per litre in diesel after the relief given both by Centre and state government,” Khandu said on the microblogging site.
The Centre had on Wednesday cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by a record Rs 5 and Rs 10 per litre, respectively – a move which has evoked similar response by many states.
Besides Arunachal, the states and UTs that extended additional VAT benefits are Karnataka, Puducherry, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Assam, Sikkim, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, Chandigarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Ladakh.
States that have so far not lowered VAT include Congress and its allies ruled Rajasthan, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu, AAP-ruled Delhi, TMC-governed West Bengal, Left-ruled Kerala, BJD-governed Odisha, TRS-led Telangana and YSR Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh. (PTI)
