Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said there should be less burden on Sitharaman on Thursday said there should be less burden on consumers and both the Centre and states should talk with each other over reducing taxes on diesel and petrol that have risen sharply in recent times.
When asked if the Centre is mulling to reduce cess or other taxes on fuel to give some respite to consumers from high prices of diesel and petrol, she said the question has put her in ‘dharm-sankat’.
“No hiding of the fact that the Centre gets revenue from it. The same is the case with states. I agree that there should be less burden on the consumers,” she said. “For that, both the Centre and states should talk with each other,” she said during an interaction with the students of the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIMA).
Earlier in the day, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das said there is a need for coordinated action between the center and state governments to reduce taxes on petrol and diesel prices. During her interaction at the IIMA campus, Sitharamantook a dig at those demanding that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) regime be brought under the purview of law, and asked why it was not done when Congress-ruled UPA was in power at the Centre before 2014.