NEW DELHI: Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday said that 23 states have slashed value added tax (VAT) on jet fuel, also called aviation turbine fuel (ATF), and he is working with other states to lower tax. He said he would not rest until the burden of higher jet fuel becomes lower.
“The efforts had resulted in 11 more states reducing VAT on ATF to between 1-4% from a high range of 20-30% when I took charge over six months ago... As a result, 23 states were now charging significantly lower VAT on jet fuel,” Scindia said during an Assocham event.
The statement from the aviation minister comes at a time when airline operators have been asking the Finance Minister to bring the ATF under the gambit of the Goods and Service Tax (GST). Scindia said he has raised ‘’multiple ‘’ issues faced by the civil aviation industry with the Finance Ministry which is examining the same.
‘’I am confident that we will be able to achieve solutions as we go along,” Scindia said. Last week, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said she would look at bringing ATF under the GST system and assured the industry representative of taking concrete steps to bring the sectors back on the growth track.