Petrol, diesel prices at all-time high but government not in favour of excise duty cut

New Delhi: Petrol and diesel prices continue their upwards journey amidst continuous calls for a cut in excise duty to ease the burden on consumers.

While the government is hoping that geopolitical tension would ease and US shale oil would help ease oil prices, it is not in favour of reducing the excise duty on fuel, as per Zee Media sources.

Petrol price touched a record high of Rs 76.87 per litre and diesel climbed to its highest ever level of Rs 68.08 as the oil PSUs passed on four weeks of relentless rise in international oil prices to consumers.

Sources told Zee Media that reduction in excise duty is being considered as the last option for the finance ministry. The ministry hopes to arrange for different alternatives to give respite to consumers who are bearing the brunt of soaring fuel prices.

This is the ninth straight day of price increase since oil PSUs on May 14 resumed daily price revision after a 19-day pre-Karnataka poll hiatus. In all, petrol price has been raised by Rs 2.24 a litre and diesel by 2.15 in last one week.

Sources further said that the finance ministry will arrive at a conclusion after holding meetings with the Oil marketing companies.

The ministry reportedly wants review or evaluate global price trend and the impact of daily pricing of fuel with OMCs before arriving at a conclusion.

The central government levies Rs 19.48 a litre of excise duty on petrol and Rs 15.33 per litre on diesel. State sales tax or VAT vary from state to state. In Delhi, VAT on petrol is Rs 15.84 and Rs 9.68 a litre on diesel.

State-owned oil companies in June 2017, dumped the 15-year old practice of revising rates on 1st and 16th of every month and instead adopted a dynamic daily price revision to instantly reflect changes in cost.