Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has indicated that the government could take additional measures to spur economic growth, which slumped to a three-year low in the first quarter of the fiscal year.

“We have taken note of all economic indicators which are available. The government will take all necessary additional moves... We will consult the Prime Minister before any announcement,” Jaitley said.

Questioned about the spike in petrol and diesel prices, Jaitley slammed the Opposition parties for crying foul over the high prices and dared the Congress and CPI-M led State governments to slash the value-added tax they have imposed on petroleum products.

“Two years ago, oil prices were reviewed on a fortnightly basis… States like Delhi, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh used to hike the VAT the same evening by the exact amount that prices were reduced,” he told reporters.

Defending the government’s decision to not lower the Central excise duty on fuel, Jaitley further said: “As much as 42 per cent of Central taxes goes to the States…Let CPI-M and Congress-led States say they don’t want it.”

‘Inflation under control’

He also maintained that inflation is well under control and within the monetary policy target of 4 per cent.

“When those who are crying about rising petrol prices were in power, inflation was at 10-11 per cent. Now, inflation is at 3.36 per cent,” said the Finance Minister.

His comments come at a time when both the Centre and States have been passing the buck on lowering duties on fuel as global crude oil prices harden and hurt consumers.

Taking advantage of the low crude oil prices, the Centre, through a series of hikes in late 2015 and 2016, increased the excise duty on petrol by ₹11.77 per litre and on diesel by ₹13.47 a litre. Meanwhile, State taxes on fuel vary between 20 per cent and 48 per cent.

Jaitley, however, expressed hope that the rise in petrol prices is a temporary spike due to the hurricanes in the US, which have impacted global refinery supplies.

“Any government needs revenue to run the country,” he said, adding that funds are needed for infrastructure development and social sector schemes.

On Monday and Tuesday, the Finance Minister held two rounds of meetings with senior Ministry officials as well as Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu, Railways and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal and NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar to review the economic situation.

GST challenge

Asked about the challenges after the rollout of GST, he urged taxpayers to file their returns in advance and not wait for the last date.

“A lot of problems are self invited for certain assessees. I would appeal to all that it is in their interest to start filing early,” he said, noting that till Tuesday evening, only 25 per cent of the assessees had paid taxes and filed returns.

“The capacity of the system is huge and it can handle one lakh returns per hour,” he stressed. Businesses have time till midnight to file the returns for August in the GSTR- 3B form.

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