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Excise duty on petrol, diesel hiked by Rs 3/lt

New Delhi: The government on Saturday hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel by a steep Rs 3 per litre each to garner about Rs 39,000 crore additional revenue as it repeated its 2014-15 act of not passing on gains arising from a slump in international oil prices.

Retail prices of petrol and diesel will not be impacted by the tax changes as state-owned oil firms adjusted them against the recent fall in oil prices and the likely trend in the near future, industry officials said.

According to a notification issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, special excise duty on petrol was hiked by Rs 2 to Rs 8 per litre in case of petrol and to Rs 4 a litre from Rs 2 in case of diesel.

Additionally, road cess was raised by Re 1 per litre each on petrol and diesel to Rs 10.

With this, the total incidence of excise duty on petrol has risen to Rs 22.98 per litre and that on diesel to Rs 18.83.

The tax on petrol was Rs 9.48 per litre when the Modi government took office in 2014 and that on diesel was Rs 3.56 a litre.

Officials said the increase in excise duty will result in an annual increase of government revenues by about Rs 39,000 crore. The gains during the remaining three weeks of the current fiscal would be less than Rs 2,000 crore.

Petrol and diesel prices, which are changed on a daily basis, were cut by 13 paise and 16 paise respectively as oil companies adjusted the excise duty hike against the drop in prices that warrants from international rates slumping the most since the Gulf war.

Congress slams Modi govt

The Congress on Saturday hit out at the Narendra Modi government over the hike in excise duty on petrol and diesel and demanded that the benefit of reduced international crude oil prices should be passed on to the people.

Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken said the government should reduce the rates of petrol, diesel, and LPG by at least 35-40 per cent.

Maken said the total incidence of excise duty on petrol has risen to Rs 22.98 per litre and that on diesel to Rs 18.83. The tax on petrol was Rs 9.48 per litre when the Modi government took office in 2014 and that on diesel was Rs 3.56 a litre, he said. Central excise duty has been hiked more than a dozen times since the BJP came to power, Maken said.

"The Modi-Shah government has looted the people by increasing excise duties and huge taxes on petroleum products and did not bring this under GST despite the consistent demand of Congress," he said.

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