Central Excise Duty On Petrol & Diesel Slashed By Rs 10 per litre

With global crude oil prices on the rise following the conflict in the Gulf, the central government has slashed excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 10 per litre. This, however, is not expected to have any immediate effect on the prices of the fuel, which currently stand at Rs 87.67 per litre for diesel and Rs 94.77 per litre for petrol in New Delhi. The reduction of the excise duty is expected to reduce some of the financial burden on state-owned oil companies, thus reducing the need for a hike in prices for petroleum fuels.

Also read: Premium Petrol Gets Costlier By Rs. 2 Per Litre, Regular Petrol Price Unchanged

Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri, in a tweet, said, “International crude prices have gone through the roof in the last 1 month from around 70 dollars/barrel to around 122 dollars/barrel. Consequently, petrol and diesel prices for consumers have gone up all over the world. Prices have increased by around 30%-50% in South East Asian countries, 30% in North American countries, 20% in Europe and 50% in African countries.”

He added that the government had chosen to shoulder some of the high cost burden borne by oil companies by reducing its tax revenue.

“Government has taken a huge hit on its taxation revenues to ensure very high losses of oil companies (approximately 24 Rs/litre for petrol and 30 Rs/litre for diesel) at this time of sky-high international prices are reduced,” Puri said in his tweet.

The excise duty cut comes a day after it was reported that private fuel merchant Nayara Energy hiked petrol prices by Rs 5 per litre and diesel by Rs 3 per litre. OMCs had also recently hiked prices of premium petrols by Rs 2 per litre.

Export Duty Charged On Diesel, Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF)

Aside from a reduction in central excise on petrol and diesel, the central government has imposed an export duty of Rs 21.5 per litre on diesel and Rs 29.5 per litre on ATF. The government says that the new duties on the fuel are a measure to ensure adequate domestic availability of the fuel.