Govt hikes excise duty on diesel by Rs 2 per litre, on petrol by 75 paise

Basic excise duty on unbranded or normal petrol has been increased from Rs 7.73 to Rs 8.48 per litre and the same on unbranded diesel from Rs 7.83 to Rs 9.83 per litre.

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: The government on Friday hiked excise duty on petrol by 75 paise per litre and by Rs 2 a litre on diesel, the third increase in duties in less than four weeks.

Basic excise duty on unbranded or normal petrol has been increased from Rs 7.73 per litre to Rs 8.48 and the same on unbranded diesel from Rs 7.83 to Rs 9.83 per litre, a notification of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) said.

This is the third time in less than four 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 on January 2 hiked excise duty on petrol by Rs 0.37 per litre and by Rs 2 a litre on diesel to mop up a little less than Rs 4,400 crore.

On December 17, 2015, it had 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 fourth hike in levies this fiscal.

With Agency Inputs