Aviation fuel tax in Nagpur region cut to 4 per cent

The Maharashtra Cabinet reduced the aviation fuel tax in the Nagpur region to four per cent from 25 per cent to promote the international cargo hub in the region.

The aviation fuel tax in Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad and other aviation sectors would continue to be at 25 per cent. Maharashtra chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde said: "The Union government has recently cleared the international cargo hub in Nagpur and the reduction in the aviation fuel tax will give a fillip to the project." The Cabinet also cleared a proposal which permits banks, post offices and financial institutions to sell government stamps.

As a result, nationalised banks, scheduled banks, co-operative banks (A category), private banks (under the supervision of the Reserve Bank of India), post offices and financial institutions (that are governed by the state government and RBI) would be permitted to vend stamps.

These institutions will be permitted to levy a one per cent commission on the stamps sold through franking machines by them in addition to Rs 10 as service charges from the public. A minimum purchase of Rs 100 worth of stamps has been made mandatory.

The banking institutions would be required to deposit a sum with the state government for the installation of the franking machines in their place of operations.

The Cabinet also decided to treat wine growers in the state on par with agriculturists while levying sales tax on their produce at the rate of four per cent.

Other proposals cleared by the Cabinet today included a Rs 400 crore development package for the Vidharba region, Rs 300 crore for the Konkan region and a Rs 588.28 crore package for the Marathwada region for undertaking various road, irrigation and other projects.