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The Revenue Secretary, Mr Sunil Mitra, said on Tuesday that the Government intends to inch towards diesel price deregulation, but it will have to watch the inflation situation before it takes a final decision.
“Though we had announced last year that the decision would be taken at an appropriate time to deregulate diesel, we have to see how the inflationary pressures go and take a decision,” he said at the sidelines of the Assocham post-Budget seminar.
He added that the Government found it inappropriate to address the issue of rising oil prices in the Budget announcement on Monday. However, it will react to it as the situation in West Asia unfolds.
“If global crude prices rise, domestic petrol prices will rise too. It is impossible to say now where it is going to go, whether it will affect Saudi Arabia or Iraq and other sources from where we get oil,” he said.
Export sops
Mr Mitra said the Government is also worried about the widening current account deficit and it is extending incentives to increase exports, which would help to bridge the rising gap.
The current account deficit has been projected at 3.5 per cent of GDP for the 2010-11. In the previous fiscal, it stood at 2.9 per cent of the GDP.
Asked about the implementation of GST, he said that the Government is having discussions with the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on the matter.
GST implementation
“We had been more tied up with the Budget, but will now sit down and work on that (GST). We will have to discuss and have a talk with empowered committee and take a decision,” he said.
On Monday, the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, had said that the GST on a pilot basis would start by June this year.
A Constitution amendment bill on the subject is also to be introduced in the current session of Parliament.
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