The Delhi Cabinet on Tuesday decided to waive Value Added Tax on fertilisers in order to provide some relief to the farmers.

Following a Cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said her government had received representations from farmers calling for relief on VAT being levied on fertilisers. It was stated that farmers were facing difficulties due to the high tax rate on the same.

The farmers had claimed that due to the high tax on fertilisers, a significant difference had emerged in the prices in Delhi and Haryana. In Delhi, fertilisers mentioned in Serial No.73 and 188 of the First Schedule were being taxed at the rate of five per cent, while those mentioned in Serial No. 20 of the Third Schedule were attracting VAT at the rate of 12.5 per cent since April 1, 2010.
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Henceforth, after issue of the notification, fertilisers including pesticides, weedicides and insecticides and bio-inputs like bio-fertilisers and micro-nutrients will not attract any VAT.

The Government said an amount of Rs.14,07,619 and Rs. 22,04,513 were collected as VAT on fertiliser in 2009-10 and 2010-11 respectively.

At the meeting, the issue of imposition of VAT on pieces of art sold through art galleries was also discussed. It was decided that the galleries will not be charged the tax for displaying the works and that VAT would only be imposed once the work is sold.

The meeting also discussed the issue of discontinuation of sale of reasonably-priced wheat flour through various government outlets. It was stated that stocks of wheat, which were being supplied by the Centre, had dried up and as no fresh stocks were available, the scheme needed to be discontinued for the time being.