Ajit Singh urges oil ministry to declare jet fuel as notified product

With an aim to revive the ailing aviation industry, the Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh has urged the petroleum ministry to put aviation turbine fuel (ATF) on the notified product list. Presently, the ATF prices in the country is nearly 50-60% costlier than in overseas markets like Bangkok, Singapore or Dubai, as an additional 4-34% state sales tax hikes the prices.

This initiative from the Civil Aviation Ministry is in conjunction with the hike in domestic fares by all major airlines citing high ATF prices. Listing jet fuel as a notified product or a declared good, airlines will only have to pay a uniform sales tax of 4%. The oil ministry's regulator will then be in a position to keep a check on prices.

Responding over the issue of allowing foreign carriers to buy up to 49% stake in domestic airlines, Singh affirmed that the political consensus are still pending on the issue, while West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee went vague, neither responded positive nor negative about the issue.