Excise duty hike on petrol, diesel: All you need to know

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: The government on Saturday increased excise duty on petrol by Rs 0.37 per litre and by Rs 2 a litre on diesel.

Here are the key facts you should know about the hike:

-There will be no increase in retail selling price of petrol and diesel as state-owned oil firms had not passed on the full benefit of a reduction in international oil prices to consumers on January 1.

-Basic excise duty on unbranded or normal petrol has been increased from Rs 7.36 per litre to Rs 7.73 and the same on unbranded diesel from Rs 5.83 to Rs 7.83 per litre.

-The increase in excise duty will fetch the government over Rs 4,300 crore on diesel and about Rs 80 crore on petrol.

-This is the second time in less than three weeks that excise duty is being hiked to make use of the slump in oil prices to garner resources for the government without burdening consumers.

-The government had from December 17 raised excise duty on petrol by Rs 0.30 per litre and Rs 1.17 a litre on diesel to garner Rs 2,500 crore.

-Taken together with the November 7, 2015 increase in excise duty on petrol of Rs 1.60 per litre and diesel by 30 paise to raise Rs 3,200 crore, this is the third hike in levies this fiscal.

-Prior to these, the government had in four installments raised excise duty on petrol and diesel between November 2014 and January 2015 to lessen the reduction in retail rates, which followed falling international oil rates.

-If the government would not have raised these duties, consumer price of petrol and diesel should have been lower by 10.02 a litre and Rs 9.97 per litre respectively. Petrol currently cost Rs 59.35 per litre in Delhi while diesel costs Rs 45.03 a litre.

-After including additional and special excise duty, the total levy on unbranded petrol will be Rs 19.73 per litre, as against Rs 19.36 currently.

-Similarly, on unbranded or normal diesel, total excise duty after including special excise will be Rs 13.83 per litre
compared with the Rs 11.83 now.

The government had collected Rs 99,184 crore in excise collections from the petroleum sector in 2014-15, which stood at Rs 33,042 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal.