From tonight, consumers need to pay more for petrol and diesel prices.
Petrol and diesel going to rise by Rs.2 per litre after finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her first budget speech on Friday proposed to increase Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED), as well as Road and Infrastructure Cess by Rs 1 per litre each on automobile fuels.
Presently, the government charges Rs.7 per litre of SAED on both branded and un-branded petrol and Rs.1 per litre on diesel. Apart from this, Road and Infrastructure Cess of Rs.8 per litre is charged on both petrol and diesel.
“Crude prices have softened from their highs, this gives me room to review excise duty and cess on petrol and diesel. I proposed to increase special additional excise duty and road and infrastructure cess each one by Rs.1 per litre on petrol and diesel,” Sitharaman said.
The government has introduced Rs.8 per litre levy of Road and Infrastructure Cess on petrol and diesel but abolished the additional duty of Excise (Road cess) on motor spirit by Rs.6 per litre at the same time.
As a result, there is a net impact of Rs.2 per litre addition on the levy of tax on petrol and diesel. Thus the net increase of tax by Rs.2 per litre on fuel was offset by the Rs.2 per liter reduction in basic excise duty.
Petrol and diesel prices on Friday remained stable for the third consecutive day. Petrol price stood at Rs 70.51 while diesel at Rs 64.33 per litre in the national capital. (UNI)
