New Delhi, May 21: The union government, on Saturday, slashed central excise duty on petrol by Rs 8 per litre and on diesel by Rs 6 litre, a move that will bring relief as household incomes continue to be hit by inflation.
Making the announcement on Twitter, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that this will reduce the price of petrol by Rs 9.5 per litre and of diesel by Rs 7 per litre. This will lead to revenue foregone for the centre of about Rs 1 trillion per annum, she said, and asked states to also reduce their duties on petrol and diesel.
Sitharaman also said that the Centre is also reducing the customs duty on raw materials and intermediaries for plastic products where import dependence is high and that this will result in reduction of cost of final products.
“Similarly we are calibrating customs duty on raw materials & intermediaries for iron & steel to reduce their prices. Import duty on some raw materials of steel will be reduced. Export duty on some steel products will be levied,” she said.
“I wish to exhort all state governments, especially the states where reduction wasn’t done during the last round (November 2021), to also implement a similar cut and give relief to the common man,” Sitharaman tweeted.
Running through the Centre’s recent moves in face of rising global commodity prices due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Sitharaman said that the fertiliser subsidy this year will rise by an additional Rs 1.1 trillion on top of the budgeted Rs 1.05 trillion.
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