A day after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a hike on auto fuel prices while presenting the Union Budget 2019-20 in Lok Sabha. Petrol and Diesel prices have increased across the nation. The Finance Minister in her 2019-20 budget had proposed to increase excise duty and road cess on the fuel. The fuel prices are now up by 2.4 to 2.36 a litre respectively across major metro cities.
Sitharaman raised excise duty and road and infrastructure cess on the auto fuels by Rs 2 per litre each to raise over Rs 28,000 crore. The additional duty and cess on petrol and diesel will lead to a significant jump in revenue for the government.
Petrol rates have been increased by Rs. 2.45 per litre while Diesel will now cost Rs. 2.36 more for a litre. Following the hike,a litre of petrol will now cost 72.96 per litre in Delhi, while diesel will be sold at 66.69 per litre in the national capital. In Mumbai, petrol is being sold at Rs. 78.57 while in Kolkata it is retailing at Rs. 75.15 per litre.
The finance minister, dismissed suggestions that levies on petrol and diesel will fuel inflation. She said that it was aimed at meeting public funding needs without hurting individual taxpayers. It was also a step to move away from fossil fuels to electric vehicles.
The finance minister also levied Re 1 per tonne customs or import duty on crude oil. India Usually, duties have been cut when global crude prices increased. But in recent years, the government has raised excise duty even when global prices fell.
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Indian Oil Corporation shares were down after imposition of special additional excise duty on petrol and diesel.
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