After Centre's appeal, key states slash petrol, diesel prices by Rs 5 per litre

New Delhi: Following the central government's footsteps, key BJP ruled states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh have announced an additional cut of Rs 2.50 per litre on petrol and diesel bringing the effect reduction to Rs 5 per litre on fuel prices.

Concerned over the spike in fuel prices, finance minister Arun Jaitley announced excise duty cut on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 per litre adding that  Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) will absorb Re 1 per litre on fuel.

The finance minister said that the impact of excise duty cut this year will be Rs 10,500 crore.

In a tweet, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani wrote:

Maharashtra Government also decided to give additional relief of ₹2.5/litre on Petrol to give total benefit of ₹5/litre in the State of Maharashtra.

— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) October 4, 2018

Finance Minister Sh @arunjaitley Ji has announced Rs.2.5 cuts in petrol & diesel prices, reciprocating positively to FM’s announcement, the Govt Of Gujarat has also decided to reduce Rs.2.50 on both petrol & diesel. Thus petrol & diesel wd be Rs. 5 cheaper in the State of Gujarat — Vijay Rupani (@vijayrupanibjp) October 4, 2018

Almost half of the fuel price is made up of taxes. The centre levies a total of Rs 19.48 per litre of excise duty on petrol and Rs 15.33 per litre on diesel. On top of this, states levy value added tax (VAT) - the lowest being in Andaman and Nicobar Islands where a 6 percent sales tax is charged on both the fuels.

Jaitley said that the new excise duty will come immediately into effect once it has been officially notified by the OMCs.

Mumbai has the highest VAT of 39.12 percent on petrol, while Telangana levies the highest VAT of 26 percent on diesel. Delhi charges a VAT of 27 percent on petrol and 17.24 percent on diesel.

The central government had raised excise duty on petrol by Rs 11.77 a litre and that on diesel by Rs 13.47 a litre in nine installments between November 2014 and January 2016 to shore up finances as global oil prices fell, but then cut the tax just once in October last year by Rs 2 a litre.

While a cut in excise duty that the central government levies will impact fiscal deficit, states like Bihar, Kerala, and Punjab are not in a position to cut sales tax (or VAT), experts believe. Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are among the handful of states which have reduced VAT.

Since mid-August, the petrol price has risen by Rs 6.86 a litre and diesel by Rs 6.73 - the most in any six-week duration after the daily price revision was introduced in mid-June last year.

Petrol prices were Thursday hiked by 15 paise a litre and diesel by 20 paise, according to price notification of state-owned oil firms. The hike pushed petrol price in Delhi to an all-time high of Rs 84 per litre and diesel to Rs 75.45. Rates of subsidised domestic cooking gas, too, have breached the Rs 500-mark for the first time.

With PTI Inputs