The Government has increased the excise duty on fuel to generate additional revenue.
The Government of India has hiked the excise duty on petrol by Rs. 10/- and on diesel by Rs. 13/-. This decision was taken earlier this week and with this increase, the Government will be able to make an additional revenue of about Rs. 1.6 lakh crore.
It has been stated that retail prices of petrol and diesel won’t be affected by this hike as state-owned fuel pumps will adjust them against the recent drop in oil prices. This is the second time since March 2020 that excise has been hiked on both the fuels. In March, there was a hike of Rs. 3/- for both petrol and diesel and that helped the Government generate a revenue of Rs. 39,000 crores.
For petrol, the road cess has been hiked by Rs. 8/- per litre and special additional excise duty by Rs. 2/- per litre. In case of diesel, the road cess has been increased by Rs. 8/- too while the the special additional excise duty has increased by Rs. 5/-. The total excise duty on petrol is now Rs. 32.98 per litre while that on diesel is Rs. 31.83 per litre. Petrol costs Rs. 76.31/- per litre while diesel costs Rs. 66.21/- per litre (Mumbai prices).
The overall situation is tight these days. With the lockdown in place, lots of revenue streams have come to a halt which is why the Centre has taken this step of increasing the excise duty on fuel to generate revenue that will help meet the expenses of the ongoing Covid-19 fight. What are your thoughts on this development?
Excise Duty On Fuel
– Excise duty on petrol hiked by Rs. 10/-
– Excise duty on diesel hiked by Rs. 13/-
– Retail prices won’t be affected
