Stowing Excise Duty (SED) on Coal should be exempted from the proposed GST: Coal Ministry

Coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal has urged the finance
ministry not to disturb the existing arrangement for levying Stowing Excise
Duty (SED) on coal dispatches, under which his ministry collects the proceeds
and uses it for development of mines.

Currently the Stowing Excise Duty (SED) is charged as Rs 10
per tonne of coal dispatches and the coal ministry expects to collect about Rs 1,100
crore per annum from SED and fears that the levy would be subsumed following
implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST).

“In pre-Budget consultations with finance minister Pranab
Mukherjee, coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal has sought an exemption to SED from
being subsumed into the proposed GST in lines with exemption granted to the
indirect taxes on five petroleum products,” a coal ministry official said.