Hike in excise duty in petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10 per litre and Rs 13 per litre respectively
The continuous lockdown of the country to tackle the Coronavirus epidemic has affected the revenues. And as a measures to counter the loss, the Government has decided to hike the excise duty on both petrol and diesel prices. It will go up by Rs 10 per litre on petrol and Rs 13 litre on diesel. While the international oil prices recently plunged to a record low due to considerable drop in demand, the excise hike in Indian fuel prices takes away its benefits.
Hike in excise duty that comes into effect from today will not affect petrol and diesel prices
However, the Government has assured that the hike will not affect the petrol and diesel prices at which they are being retailed to the consumers, making the OMCs absorb it. Last month, the government had hiked the road and infrastructure cess along with excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 3 per litre. The revenues collected from the increased excise will be used for infrastructure and development expenditure, mentioned the Government. This hike comes after the increase in the VAT on the petrol and diesel prices that was imposed by the Central Government, wherein the petrol prices have gone up by Rs 1.67 per litre and diesel prices have been increased by Rs 7.10.
The new fuel prices in the national capital now stand at Rs 71.26 per litre for petrol and Rs 69.29 per litre for diesel. The increase in fuel prices is the result of the VAT (value-added tax) hike, which has gone up from 27 per cent to 30 per cent in case of petrol, while on diesel it has been increased to 30 per cent from 16.75 per cent.
