Centre Cuts Excise Duty On Petrol, Diesel; Prices To Fall By Rs 9.5 & Rs 7, Respectively

New Delhi: The Central government has decided to reduce excise duty on petrol by Rs 8 per litre and on diesel by Rs 6 per litre. This will reduce price of petrol by Rs 9.5 per litre and of diesel by Rs 7 per litre, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Saturday.

“It will have a revenue implication of around Rs 1 lakh crore per year for the government,” the FM said in a series of tweets.

Sitharaman urged state governments to implement a similar reduction in duties.

“I wish to exhort all state governments, especially the states where the reduction wasn’t done during the last round (November 2021), to also implement a similar cut and give relief to the common man,” she tweeted.

Subsidy On Gas Cylinder

In another important announcement, Sitharaman said the Centre will give a subsidy of Rs 200 per gas cylinder (up to 12 cylinders) to over 9 crore beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana.

“This will help our mothers and sisters. This will have a revenue implication of around Rs 6,100 crore a year,” she added.

“We are also reducing the customs duty on raw materials & intermediaries for plastic products where our import dependence is high. This will result in reduction of cost of final products,” the minister tweeted.

Farmers’ Relief

The Centre is also taking measures to give farmers relief.

“In addition to the fertiliser subsidy of Rs Rs 1.05 lakh crore in the budget, an additional amount of Rs 1.10 lakh crore is being provided to further cushion our farmers.”

Sitharaman said these announcements have been made as the government is commitment to helping the poor and needy.