Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) : The Madhya Pradesh Government on Friday cut the Value-Added Tax (VAT) on prices of petrol by 3 percent and diesel by 5 percent, following the lead of Maharashtra and Gujarat.

An additional Rs. 1.50 has also been concentrated on the same.

The Centre had, previously, announced that the excise duty on fuel would be slashing, citing that the move was an attempt to "cushion the impact of rising international prices of crude petroleum oil, and petrol and diesel on their retail sale prices".

A day later, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan asked the states to cut the Value-Added Tax (VAT) on fuel by 5 per cent.

"We urge the states to take the responsibility just like the Centre did, in direction of the consumer interest, so that they get more relief," Pradhan said.

The Gujarat government then took the lead in cutting VAT on petrol and diesel. With that rate slash, the price of petrol has come down by Rs. 2.93 and that of diesel by Rs. 2.72 in the state.

Immediately after Gujarat, Maharashtra cut VAT on both petrol and diesel. Petrol is now cheaper by Rs. 2 and diesel by Re 1 per litre across Maharashtra.

The Himachal Pradesh government had also concentrated VAT on petrol and diesel by 1 per cent to give relief to people.