High prices, uncertainty will slow growth in gas demand: IEA

NEW DELHI: Industry body FICCI has sought zero-rating GST on healthcare services to enable the service providers to claim input tax credit.

In a letter to the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the chamber’s President Sanjiv Mehta said “enabling this would not only ensure that the input tax credit chain is intact but will also make compliances easier and ensure that the input taxes are not loaded into the cost of healthcare services”.

“Hence, it is our sincere request that the exemption of healthcare services from Goods and Services Tax may kindly be discontinued, and the healthcare providers be allowed to avail the input tax credit,” he added.

Sharing its views on the recommendations made in the recent GST Council meeting, the chamber said the incorporation of 5 per cent Goods and Services Tax on room rent (exceeding Rs 5,000 per day) will go on to increase the cost of healthcare service to the patients.

“Further, the room rent is usually a part of the package rate for a treatment, and taxing only one component of the package will create confusion and will lead to deconstructing of the packages, which is against the current practice being encouraged by the government,” the FICCI President said in the letter.

He said under Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY scheme and other health insurance schemes, the government has been encouraging the private sector to keep the patients informed of the cost of entire treatment through package rates.

BERLIN: The International Energy Agency (IEA) says high prices for natural gas and supply fears due to the war in Ukraine will slow the growth in demand for the fossil fuel in the coming years.

In a report published Tuesday, the Paris based agency forecast global demand for natural gas to rise by 140 billion cubic meters between 2021 and 2025. That’s less than half the increase of 370 bcm seen in the previous five-year period, which included the pandemic downturn.

The revised forecast is mostly due to expectations of slower economic growth rather than buyers switching from gas to coal, oil or renewable energy.

While the burning of gas emits less planet-warming carbon dioxide than other fossil fuels, methane released during the extraction process is a significant driver of climate change.

Russia’s unprovoked war in Ukraine is seriously disrupting gas markets that were already showing signs of tightness, said Keisuke Sadamori, the agency’s director of energy markets and security.

Efforts by European Union countries to wean themselves off Russian gas will lead to a fall in pipeline exports from Russia to the 27-nation bloc of 55-75%, the IEA said. At the same time the EU’s purchases of liquefied natural gas have diverted deliveries intended for other regions, such as Asia, which is predicted to account for half the demand growth by 2025.

We are now seeing inevitable price spikes as countries around the world compete for LNG shipments, but the most sustainable response to today’s global energy crisis is stronger efforts and policies to use energy more efficiently and to accelerate clean energy transitions, said Sadamori.

The agency’s quarterly report said capacity is partly constrained by a slump in gas infrastructure investments in the mid-2010s and pandemic-related construction delays.