Petrol and diesel vehicles may get a GST cut soon, hinted Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday. The minister told a gathering of the beleaguered automobile industry honchos in New Delhi that he will take up the matter with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Gauging the downcast mood at the annual convention of the apex automobile industry body SIAM in the national capital on Thursday, Gadkari assured the gathering, which had the likes of heads of auto companies including Maruti Suzuki, TVS and Skoda among others, that the government was aware of the problems they were facing. “The government will help in whatever way we can, retain hope and confidence and not arrogance. This too shall pass,” Gadkari told them.
The industry has been asking for GST cut on vehicles from the high of 28 per cent to 18 per cent. Electric vehicles had got a major boost in tax cuts in end-July, when the GST Council brought down their tax to just 5 per cent.
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The next GST council meeting is scheduled for September 20 in Goa.
Gadkari also promised to look into the auto majors demand of a scrappage policy, and assured them that loan issues will also be sorted out soon.
The automobile sector has been one of the most affected in the current economic slowdown. Car sales in the country plummeted by 36 per cent in July, registering a degrowth for ninth straight month. The trend is expected to continue in August as well as major car manufacturers, including Tata, Honda, Toyota and Mahindra reported a dip in sales.
Last month, SIAM had, in its monthly report, warned that an estimated 10 lakh jobs were on the line if the demand failed to pick up or government did not introduce bailout measures.