Union Minister - Jyotiraditya Scindia Urges Assam & 8 Other States To Reduce VAT On ATF

Union Minister – Jyotiraditya Scindia Urges Assam & 8 Other States To Reduce VAT On ATF

18th October 2022

NET Web Desk

The Union Minister of Civil Aviation – Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday urged the northeastern state of Assam and 8 other states to reduce Value Added Tax (VAT) on Air Turbine Fuel (ATF) for facilitating air connectivity to Tier-II, Tier-III cities.

Apart from the Assam Government, the Union Minister has also appealed the Governments of Assam, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Bihar, and Punjab governments to reduce VAT on ATF for the growth of civil aviation sector in their states.

He assured to increase aeroplane connectivity in these eight states, if they reduce VAT on ATF.

Addressing the concluding session of a two-days-long conference of Ministers of Civil Aviation of all states and Union Territories (UTs) in Delhi, Scindia said “I urge you (eight states) politely to reduce VAT on ATF. I promise you to increase the aeroplane connectivity in your states.”

The Minister claimed that 12 states had long-term perspectives on the matter and had already reduced the VAT on ATF.

“The ATF of these 12 states was 1-4 per cent, and the ATF of 26 states was 20-30 per cent. In the last one-and-a-half year, the graph of the ATF has increased from Rs 53,000 per km to Rs 1.40 lakh per km. In the last few months, there is a reduction in ATF of almost 20 per cent but the most cost-affecting part of the airline sector is still ATF,” Scindia said.

“So, 28 states are between 1-4 per cent of VAT on ATF. Now, there are only eight states where these is 20-30 per cent VAT. Thus, my first request in the Civil Aviation Minister’s conference is to those eight states to kindly bring down your barriers to entry. Only when you bring down your barriers to entry, will you proliferate civil aviation activities in your state. This will enhance civil aviation sector’s improvement when you all these eight states reduce VAT of ATF,” – he added.

The Union Minister has also extended special thanks to Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Mizoram, Tripura, Haryana, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Dadar and Naga Haveli and Daman and Diu, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Gujarat and Karnataka for reducing VAT on ATF on the request of Civil Aviation Ministry.