No roll-back of excise duty hike on petrol, diesel: Govt

17 Dec 2014 Evaluate

The government has cleared that it has no plans to roll-back the recent hike in excise duty on diesel and petrol. Minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha has asserted that there is no plan to roll-back the duty as present circumstances do not warrant a change in the excise duty structure on petrol and diesel. 

To enhance the revenue collection to meet its fiscal deficit target of 4.1% of gross domestic product (GDP) in this financial year, the government hiked excise duty by Rs 1.50 a litre on both the fuels first on Nov 12. Later, on Dec 2, the duty on petrol was hiked by Rs 2.25 per litre and on diesel by Re 1 a litre. The move is expected to fetch the government an additional Rs 10,500 crore in the current fiscal. At present, excise duty on diesel stood at Rs 5.96 per litre for unbranded and Rs 8.25 per litre branded diesel. For unbranded and branded petrol, the excise duty is Rs 12.95 per litre and Rs 14.10 per litre, respectively.

Global crude oil prices have been witnessing steady declining trend since June owing to the oversupply in international markets and hit a fresh five-year low of about $60 per barrel on December 15.  However, the government on December 12 announced further cut by Rs 2 per litre each in Petrol and diesel prices. This was the eighth straight reduction in petrol prices since August and fourth in diesel since October. In Delhi, petrol price has reduced to Rs 61.33 per litre, the lowest in 44 months and Diesel to Rs 50.51 per litre, the lowest since July 2013.

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