Four hikes in excise duty on petrol and diesel between November 2014 and January 2015 have generated additional revenue of Rs 30,000 crore during April-August of the current fiscal. The hike in excise duty on petrol and diesel was on account of crash in global oil prices internationally. Additional revenue initiatives have yielded rich dividend for the government as it has mopped up an extra Rs 36,500 crore in `excise collections from the same period.
Further, the hike in clean energy cess from Rs 100 to Rs 200 per tonne of coal, etc, which was announced in the Budget, has helped the government garner more than Rs 3,000 crore during the same period. Besides, the withdrawal of excise duty concessions on automobile and consumer goods have yielded additional excise revenue of Rs 3,500 crore in April-August of the current financial year. The government, in order to boost the consumer durable and automobile sectors that were struggling in the wake of economic downturn, had cut excise duty on cars, SUVs, two-wheelers and consumer durables in the interim Budget in February 2014. The concession, however, was withdrawn from January 1, 2015.
The total excise duty during April- August jumped 69.7 per cent to over Rs 1.02 lakh crore, compared to Rs 60,663 crore same period last fiscal. Excise duty has contributed around 40 per cent of the total indirect tax collection during April-August. The indirect tax revenues during April- August period were over Rs 2.63 lakh crore. However, after discounting for the additional excise collection on account of change in duty structure in petroleum and other sectors, the increase in excise duty collections works out to be 9 per cent.