The Assembly on Tuesday passed the Odisha Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2012, with deletion of a provision in the Act.

The amendment was required as the Government experienced certain operational deficiencies and difficulties during the administration of VAT.

Moving the Bill, Finance Minister Prafulla Ghadei said traders of certain items are entitled to input tax credit even though VAT is not applicable to the final product.

Citing the example of coal, furnace oil and kerosene, the Minister said dealers of these products were allowed input tax credit.

When coal is used for generation of electricity, input tax credit is allowed on its purchase while VAT is not imposed on electricity.

The Minister said the Government last year sustained a loss of Rs? 25 crore towards input tax.