No pure GST on petrol, diesel; 28% tax plus VAT a possibility: Official

A peak tax rate of 28 per cent plus states levying some amount of local sales tax or VAT on petrol and diesel is likely to be the tax structure when the two auto fuels are covered under the GST regime, a top government official said.

The peak GST rate plus VAT will be equal to the present tax incidence, which is made up of excise duty, levied by the central government, and VAT charged by the states.

But before the two fuels are put under GST, the Centre has to decide if it is willing to let go of the about Rs 200 billion (Rs 20,000 crore) of input tax credit it currently pockets by keeping petrol, diesel, natural gas, jet fuel and crude oil out of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime that came into force from July 1, 2017, the official said.

"There is no pure GST on petrol and diesel anywhere in the world and so in India too it will have to be a combination of GST and VAT," said the official, who is closely involved with the GST implementation.

Newly elected Karnataka Congress MLA S B Nyamgoud dies in road accident

Senior Congress legislator Siddu Bhimappa Nyamgoud from Karnataka's Bagalkot district died in a road accident on Monday, police said.

He was 71 and leaves behind his widow, two sons and three daughters.

"The accident occurred near Tulasegeri village when the car in which Nyamgoud was travelling crashed into a divider after the driver lost control while trying to avoid a head-on collision with a truck," Tulasegiri police inspector M B Biradar told IANS.

Bagalkot is 530 km from state capital Bengaluru and 20 km from Tulasigeri.

Four persons, including the driver, were injured. They have been admitted to a hospital in Bagalkot.

"The legislator was travelling to Jamkhandi via Bagalkot from Panaji in Goa upon his return from Delhi on Sunday night," Biradar said.

Nyamgoud was re-elected to the state Assembly in the May 12 election, defeating BJP's Kulkarni Shrikant Subrao by 2,795 votes.

The veteran party leader was a Union Minister in the P V Narasimha Rao cabinet in 1990-91.

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and many Congress leaders mourned his untimely death.