Petrol price to rise by INR 2.5, diesel by INR 2.3 after FM raises tax

New Delhi, July 5 (PTI):  Petrol price will be hiked by over INR 2.5 per litre and diesel by more than INR 2.3 after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Friday raised taxes on the fuels to part-fund her Budget for 2019-20.

Sitharaman raised excise duty and road and infrastructure cess on the auto fuels by INR 2 per litre each to raise over INR 28,000 crore.

Post considering local sales tax or value added tax (VAT), which is charged after adding central excise duty on base price, the increase in petrol price would be over INR 2.5 per litre and that on diesel would be INR 2.3.

On Friday, a litre of petrol costs INR 70.51 in Delhi and INR 76.15 in Mumbai. Diesel is priced at INR 64.33 a litre in Delhi and INR 67.40 per litre in Mumbai.

Also, the finance minister has levied INR 1 per tonne customs or import duty on crude oil. India imports more than 220 million tonnes of crude oil; and the new duty will give the government INR 22 crore additionally.

At present, the government does not levy any customs duty on crude oil. Only a INR 50 per tonne national calamity contingent duty (NCCD) is charged.

“Crude prices have softened from their highs. This gives me a room to review excise duty and cess on petrol and diesel. I propose to increase Special Additional Excise duty and Road and Infrastructure Cess each by INR two a litre on petrol and diesel,” she said in her budget speech.

Petrol currently attracts a total excise duty of INR 17.98 per litre (INR 2.98 basic excise duty, INR 7 special additional excise duty and INR 8 road and infrastructure cess).

On diesel, a total of INR 13.83 per litre excise duty is charged (INR 4.83 basic excise duty, INR 1 special additional excise duty and INR 8 road and infrastructure cess).

On top of these, VAT is charged which varies from state to state. In Delhi, VAT is levied at the rate of 27 per cent on petrol and 16.75 per cent on diesel. In Mumbai, VAT on petrol is 26 per cent plus INR 7.12 a litre additional tax while diesel attracts 24 per cent sales tax.

Import of petrol and diesel attracts customs duty equivalent to the total levy of excise. But the government has, with effect from July 6, removed INR 9 a litre import duty equivalent to road and infrastructure cess.

The Modi government had, in its first term, only twice cut excise duty on petrol and diesel but raised it nine times. The last time, the duty was revised in October 2018 when excise duty was lowered by INR 1.50 a litre each on petrol and diesel. It had in October 2017 cut the same by INR 2 a litre.

The BJP-government at the centre had raised excise duty on petrol by INR 11.77 a litre and that on diesel by INR 13.47 a litre in nine instalments between November 2014 and January 2016 to shore up finances as global oil 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.

IOC closed 2.84 per cent lower at INR 152.10, HPCL fell 0.71 per cent at INR 286.60 and BPCL shed 2.80 per cent to INR 369.35 on the NSE.