M A I N   N E W S

No excise duty on domestic LPG cylinders beyond cap of 6
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 21
The government today clarified that no excise or customs duty would be applicable on domestic LPG cylinders beyond the cap of six per year. The government had last week restricted the supply of subsidised cooking gas to six per household in a year. Non-subsidised commercial LPG cylinders, however, would continue to attract customs duty of 5 per cent and excise duty at 8 per cent.

These duties would have meant that the price of domestic LPG cylinders would have gone up by almost Rs 100 per cylinder. “As some LPG cylinders will not be subsidised, we have amended the notification for the non-subsidised household LPG cylinders. Customs and excise on those will be zero,” Finance Minister P Chidambaram said today.

Taking a cue from the Congress-ruled states which have increased the number of subsidised cylinders to nine per year, the minister asked other states to follow suit. “I welcome the decision of certain state governments to subsidise three cylinders per year in addition to six cylinders for which the subsidy would be borne by the Central government. I would recommend that all state governments adopt such an approach,” he said. The minister also welcomed the decision of the Bihar Government to reduce VAT on diesel from 18 per cent to 16 per cent.

Continuing with the reforms spree to improve investor sentiment, Chidambaram today made overseas borrowings by Indian companies cheaper and approved the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Scheme to attract more first timers into the stock market and divert investment away from gold.