GST council should consider rationalisation, bring petrol under GST: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

CHENNAI: The Union Budget sets India in right direction where the government only facilitates businesses with minimum regulation, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday. "If we need a welfare state where the poor are attended, where the government intervenes in health and educational sector, then the need for wealth creation also has to be duly recognised," she said at a post- Budget discussion organised by Chennai Citizen Forum. "If avenues for earning tax are not widened, then governmental interventions in the health and education sector cannot be expanded," said Sitharaman.

Sitharaman said the Union Budget not only targets the vision of a five trillion dollar economy by 2024 but also a robust private sector. "It is a wrong belief that one government can solve all problems of this country. The private sector and the government have to work together," she said.

Sitharaman said the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council should consider rationalisation of slabs. On rising fuel prices, she said it is a vexatious issue. "The Centre and states both generate revenue from petrol. We can think about bringing petroleum under the GST. Maybe it is a solution."