Auto LPG industry in the country has sought a reduction in GST rates on LPG conversion kits for automobiles from current 28 per cent to 5 per cent to boost vehicle conversions to the environment-friendly fuel.

Indian Auto LPG Coalition, the apex industry body for auto LPG in India, said that high GST rates were hampering conversion to LPG, which is much cleaner transport fuel as compared to petrol.

In a statement, the association said putting an efficient and non-polluting fuel under the highest GST slab is counter-productive to the government’s focus on cleaning India’s urban air quality. The high GST rates are proving detrimental to the conversion industry and hampering the growth of the clean and environment-friendly transport fuel.

“An auto LPG conversion kit is not a luxury item which is placed under the highest GST slab. At a time, when our cities have been reeling under the impact of harmful vehicular emissions, all efforts must be initiated to push consumers towards using cleaner fuels. Conversion of vehicles to auto LPG has to be promoted by making them more affordable and easily available,” said Suyash Gupta, Director General of Indian Auto LPG Coalition.

He said such a prohibitively high GST rate is driving up the costs of conversion kits and discouraging consumers.

“Auto LPG is a very clean transport fuel with almost negligible particulate material emissions, and can bring about immediate improvements in air quality,” he said.

The association said auto LPG has become a major draw in several countries and has helped clean up their urban environments, thanks to favourable policy measures.

A prominent example is South Korea which records 4 million tonnes in sales of this fuel annually. Turkey runs almost 40 per cent of all private vehicles on auto LPG.