- Excise duty on fuel price has increased by Rs 1 per litre
- Will result in a significant rise in fuel prices
The prices of petrol and diesel are set to increase as the excise duty for both has been hiked. As announced by the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman during the budget speech, both petrol and diesel will now attract an additional excise duty of Re 1 per litre on their current prices.
As of now, the government has imposed Rs 17.98 per litre of excise duty and Rs 14.98 per litre of VAT on petrol. Meanwhile, diesel attracts Rs 13.83 per litre excise duty and Rs 9.47 per litre of VAT. The sum of both the taxes result in Rs 32.96 per litre for petrol and Rs 23.3 per litre for diesel, which are the prices the dealers bear.
The Ministry of Finance revenue collection estimates reveal that the Central government’s gross revenue collection for the FY2019 was Rs 2.579 lakh crore, which was up from Rs 2.016 lakh crore in FY 2018. For a few years, the government has been increasing excise duty on fuel prices, even during the times the global prices witnessed a downfall.
