Natural gas to be under GST
The government is keen to invite more investments into the oil and gas sector, said Tarun Kapoor, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas.
“The government is keen to invite more investments into the sector. We are looking at pricing freedom,” he said at a webinar on ‘Future of Global Oil & Gas Prices & Policies for India’, organised by FICCI, on 27 May 2020.
The government also is considering bringing natural gas under the GST to begin with as it would be difficult to bring the entire oil and gas sector immediately under it.
“We want that whoever is in the sector has ease of operations. The first product which we are targeting is gas so if that happens that would be a good beginning and that is the direction we have to go,” he said.
Highlighting the benefits of the decline in the international crude prices, Kapoor said, “This situation is good for the country because we have huge oil imports and we could make good use of the low prices.
“We could buy crude to fill our strategic reserves as well. Indian markets are also coming gradually to its previous level so the demand will also increase.”
Kapoor further emphasised on the need of adopting biofuels. He said that government is also looking at options to increase the gas share in country’s total energy mix.
“We are very keen on increasing the gas share in the total energy mix in the country. Currently it is only 6.3% of the total primary energy of the country whereas globally it is 24%. We also want to move to biofuel,” he said.
The inclusion of hydrocarbon & natural gas in the GST regime will be a big help in the development of the sector, added Prashant Modi, Co-Chair, FICCI Hydrocarbons Committee and MD & CEO, Great Eastern Energy Corporation Ltd (GEECL).
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