Panaji, March 18 (IANS) After exempting petrol from Value Added Tax (VAT), Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar Monday excluded sanitary napkins and diapers from the tax.
Parrikar, who presented his budget in the assembly Monday, said that the decision had been taken to “ensure personal hygiene”.
“To ensure personal hygiene amongst adolescent girls and young women, it is essential that the price of sanitary napkins be lowered,” Parrikar told the budget session of the assembly.
“I propose to exempt from VAT sanitary napkins and diapers used by babies, young women and the old,” he added.
Parrikar had sparked a nationwide debate last year after he abolished VAT on petrol as part of a pre-poll promise, reducing the price of the fuel by Rs.11.
The price of petrol in Goa is currently the lowest in the country at Rs.56.43.
