Price of petrol, cars, rice, wheat set to go up in Chandigarh

Prices of various commodities including petrol, car, wheat and rice are set to go up here with UT Chandigarh Administration today announcing to raise VAT rates on a slew of commodities with immediate effect.
The Administration has raised Value Added Tax (VAT) rates on petrol and premium petrol to 24.74 per cent and on automobiles to 13.2 per cent while tax on coal, rice, wheat, paddy has been hiked to 5 per cent each from 4 per cent.
Previous VAT rates on petrol was 20 per cent, premium petrol 22 per cent and automobiles 12.5 per cent.
With the hike in tax on petrol, the price of fuel is set to jump by Rs 2.10 per litre in the city, said a petroleum dealer here. At present, price of petrol is Rs 59.53 per litre in Chandigarh.

After the hike in tax on petrol, its price will come on par with that of neighbouring Haryana, the dealer further said.
However, petrol in Chandigarh and Haryana will still be cheaper than that available in Punjab. The difference in petrol prices between Chandigarh and Punjab will come down to about Rs 5 a litre against Rs 7 per litre, fuel pump owners said.

Price of petrol in Ambala (Haryana) is Rs 61.63 per litre and in Mohali (Punjab) is Rs 66.88 a litre.
Tax on petrol in Punjab and Haryana is 36.42 per cent (including cess and other levies) and 26.25 per cent respectively.

The hike in petroleum products came in the backdrop of efforts made by governments in northern region including Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh which are pushing for uniformity in tax rates on fuel in order to check its smuggling. Earlier, northern states brought uniformity in tax on diesel.
Car prices are also set to increase in the city in the wake of increase in tax on automobiles from 12.5 per cent to 13.2 per cent.
Asked how much additional revenue would be generated with increase in taxes, Chandigarh Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner Ravinder Kaushik said, "the details of revenue generation (from increase in taxes) has still not been worked out."

Meanwhile, petroleum dealers in Punjab today urged SAD-BJP led state government to bring down VAT rate on petrol to bring parity with tax rates in various northern states including Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi.
"We humbly request the state government to reduce the tax rate on Punjab which is on higher side among Haryana and Chandigarh so that rates of petrol can be same in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh," said Mohali based Ashwinder Mongia.