News Analysis India

Tag: petrol price

  • Fuel tax cut: Petrol and diesel in MP’s border districts cheaper a week after pamphlets promised low rates in Maharashtra

    By PTI

    BHOPAL: After the Centre and the Madhya Pradesh government slashed taxes and cess on fuel, rates of petrol and diesel have come down in the border district of Balaghat compared to Maharashtra, almost a week after residents received pamphlets promising them petrol cheaper by Rs 4 per litre in Gondia in the neighbouring state.

    The fuel also became cheaper in the districts in Madhya Pradesh bordering Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

    A day after the Union government slashed excise duty on petrol and diesel, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on November 4 announced a four per cent cut in the Value Added Tax (VAT) and Rs 1.50 cut in the cess on the two fuels. Petrol and diesel in Balaghat have become cheaper by Rs 1.50 to Rs 2.50 per litre if compared to Gondia, Amar Singh Narde, a petrol pump owner in Balaghat said on Saturday.

    He said petrol was sold at around Rs 121 per litre earlier and diesel around Rs 110 per litre before the Centre and the state government slashed taxes.

    On Saturday, the prices of diesel and petrol in Balaghat stood at Rs 93.4 a litre and Rs 109.57 per litre, respectively, he said. On the other hand, petrol and diesel are being sold at Rs 111.71 and Rs 94.45 a litre, respectively, in Gondia, Narde said.

    According to him, petrol and diesel have now become cheaper by Rs 11.74 a litre and Rs 17.16 a litre respectively, in Balaghat.

    On October 31, a sizable number of people in Balaghat city got pamphlets in their newspapers informing them that petrol and diesel were cheaper by at least Rs 4 per litre in Gondia. The Hindi pamphlets mentioned the name of a dealer located at Jai Stambh Chowk in Gondia.

    These pamphlets were distributed to attract people from Balaghat, which also borders Chhattisgarh, towards lower prices of petrol and diesel in Maharashtra, a petrol pump owner said.

    Meanwhile, diesel has become cheaper in Anuppur, another district in MP bordering Chhattisgarh, by Rs 1.50 per litre, said Abhishek Jaiswal, a petrol pump owner based in Bijuri.

    However, petrol is still costlier by Rs 4.5 a litre in the Anuppur district if compared to Chhattisgarh. Similarly, petrol and diesel have cheaper now by Rs 4 and Rs 5 per litre respectively in the Guna district of MP compared to neighbouring Rajasthan, said Pulkit Agrawal, a petrol owner in Binaganj, just 25 km from the state border.

    He said since prices of petrol and diesel were at the higher side in MP earlier, people used to travel to Rajasthan for refuelling. On Saturday, diesel and petrol are being sold at Rs 91.98 and Rs 108.35 per litre, respectively, in the Guna district, Agrawal said.

  • BJP slams opposition parties for not reducing VAT on petrol, diesel in states ruled by them

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Two days after the Centre slashed the excise duty on petrol and diesel, the BJP Friday hit out at opposition parties for not reducing the Value Added Tax and accused them of doing “petty politics” over high fuel prices.

    It said the Opposition attacks the Centre over high prices of diesel and petrol but not follows suit when the Union government slashes the excise duty.

    Addressing a press conference here, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said the states ruled by the party have slashed VAT on the fuel to add to the relief provided to the common man by the Centre, but the states ruled by the opposition parties like the Congress, Trinamool Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party have not done so.

    “If the Centre and BJP-ruled states can give relief to people, then why not the Congress-ruled states,” Bhatia asked, alleging they were “cruel and incompetent”.

    Noting that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had dubbed the Central government “pickpocket” over the high fuel prices and used the “extortion” barb at it, the BJP leader said it appears that there is no bigger “pickpocket” than the Congress.

    The VAT on petrol in the Congress-ruled Rajasthan is Rs 32.19, and it is Rs 31 in the opposition alliance-ruled Maharashtra now compared Rs 21.86 and Rs 20.46 in the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Bhatia said. The Modi government had slashed excise duty on petrol and diesel prices by Rs 5 and Rs 10 on the eve of Diwali.

    The central government, Bhatia added, has used taxes collected from people for nation-building and people’s welfare.

    Direct benefit transfer of Rs 19 lakh crore has been done, he said, adding that the poor have been given free ration as well.

    The decision to reduce fuel prices shows the BJP governments’ sensitivity and consideration towards people, he said.

  • Himachal Pradesh joins wagon, reduces VAT on petrol, diesel 

    By PTI

    SHIMLA: The Himachal Pradesh government announced on Thursday that Value Added Tax (VAT) on petrol would be reduced by Rs 2 per litre and Rs 4.60 on diesel.

    Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said petrol would be cheaper by Rs 12 per litre whereas diesel would also be cheaper by Rs 17 per litre in the state.

    The Centre on Wednesday had reduced the excise duty on petrol by Rs 5 and that on diesel by Rs 10.

    In a notification issued here on Thursday, the Himachal Pradesh government has reduced the tax on petrol from 25 per cent or Rs 15.50 per litre to 17.5 per cent or Rs 13.50 per litre.

    Similarly, it reduced the tax on diesel from 14 per cent or Rs 9 per litre to six percent or Rs 4.40 per litre.

    Additional Chief Secretary (State Taxes and Excise) Jagdish Chander Sharma said the order would come into force from Thursday midnight.

    The chief minister thanked the Union government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for reducing the excise duty on petrol and diesel.

    “This decision of the Union government provided much needed relief to the people of the country,” he added.

  • Madhya Pradesh govt announces VAT, cess cut for petrol, diesel 

    By PTI

    BHOPAL: A day after the Union government slashed excise duty on petrol and diesel, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday announced a four per cent cut in the Value Added Tax (VAT) and Rs 1.50 cut in the cess on the two fuels.

    As a result, the price of petrol will come down to Rs 106.86 and that of diesel to Rs 90.95 per litre in the state capital Bhopal from Friday.

    In a bid to give relief to the people despite financial constraints, the state government has decided to cut VAT on petrol and diesel by four per cent, an official release said.

    Besides, chief minister Chouhan also decided to slash by Rs 2 and Rs 1.50 the cess on petrol and diesel, respectively, it added.

    The prices of the two fuels, thus, will be reduced by Rs 7 per litre, it added.

    The relief would leave a hole of Rs 1,948 crore in the state government’s coffers during the remaining months of this fiscal, the release said.

    The prices of petrol and diesel dropped by Rs 6.27 and Rs 12.49 per litre, respectively, in Bhopal on Thursday morning following the Centre’s decision to cut excise duty, Bhopal Petrol Pump Dealers Association secretary Nakul Sharma had told PTI earlier in the day.

    The prices of petrol and diesel fell to Rs 112.54 and Rs 95.39 per litre, he had said.

    Opposition Congress had asked the BJP government to take a cue from other states and reduce the VAT on petrol and diesel.

    Congress Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh posted a tweet with the hashtag “Modi hai to mahangai hai”, saying, “Thank you Modi-ji for Rs 5 reduction on petrol after raising the central excise tax by nearly Rs 35 per litre on petrol and diesel. Keep raising it from tomorrow.”

    Madhya Pradesh Congress spokesman Bhupendra Gupta had said the state government should also reduce VAT on the fuels as the BJP-ruled states of Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Tripura have done.

    Even the BJP’s ally JD(U) in Bihar had reduced the VAT on fuels, he had pointed out.

  • Bypoll results have produced by-product: Congress leader P Chidambaram’s dig at excise duty cut

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday took a swipe at the BJP over the cut in excise duties on petrol and diesel, saying the results of the 30 assembly and three Lok Sabha by-elections have “produced a by-product”.

    The government on Wednesday cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by a record Rs 5 and Rs 10 per litre to help bring down rates down from their highest-ever levels.

    “The results of the 30 Assembly and 3 LS by-elections have produced a by-product. The centre has cut excise duties on petrol and diesel!” Chidambaram said on Twitter.

    “It is a confirmation of our charge that fuel prices are high mainly because of high taxes,” the former finance minister said.

    “And our charge that high fuel taxes is because of the greed of the central government,” he added.

    Hitting back at the Congress leader, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who earlier held the portfolio of Petroleum and Natural Gas, said, “If the accusation is being sensitive to people’s demand and sharing their sorrow, we happily accept it as the Modi government stands for being with the people in their happiness as well as in grief.”

    On Wednesday, Chidambaram had said that in the by-elections in 30 assembly constituencies — BJP won seven seats and its declared allies won eight seats.

    Congress won eight seats.

    Non-BJP parties won seven seats of which only one seat was won by a crypto ally of the BJP, namely YSR Congress, he had said.

  • With Centre slashing excise duty on petrol, diesel, VAT to get cut automatically: Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot

    By PTI

    JAIPUR: With the Centre slashing excise duty on petrol and diesel, the value-added tax imposed by the state will get reduced automatically in a proportionate manner, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said on Thursday.

    He demanded a further reduction in the excise duty on petrol and diesel to give people relief from the rising inflation and asserted the Congress government in Rajasthan is “ready to bear revenue loss for public welfare”.

    With the Centre cutting excise duty on petrol by Rs 5 per litre and on diesel by Rs 10 per litre, the VAT rate on petrol will get reduced by Rs 1.8 per litre and Rs 2.6 per litre on diesel automatically, the Rajasthan chief minister said.

    This way, petrol will be cheaper by Rs 6.8 per litre and diesel by 12.6 per litre in Rajasthan.

    The state will lose Rs 1,800 crore VAT revenue, he underlined.

    “I would once again urge prime minister (Narendra Modi) to reduce excise duty so that people can get the relief from rising inflation. Our government is ready to bear the revenue loss for public welfare,” Gehlot said.

    He said that it will be ensured with the help of district administration, oil companies and petrol pump dealers that the people get direct benefit of reduced fuel price.

    Gehlot said the state had reduced VAT by 2 per cent in January 2021, which led to a loss of Rs 1,000 crore revenue.

    Now, with a loss of 1,800 crore VAT revenue following the Centre’s decision, Rajasthan is staring at a total loss of Rs 2,800 crore revenue earned from VAT on fuel, he added.

    The excise duty on petrol and diesel was cut by a record Rs 5 and Rs 10 per litre respectively to help bring down rates down from their highest-ever levels.

    The reduction follows an unrelenting hike in international oil prices pushing pump rates across the country to their highest-ever levels.

    While petrol is above Rs 100-a-litre-mark in all major cities, diesel has crossed that level in more than one-and-a-half dozen states.

    Several BJP-ruled states and Bihar, where the BJP is part of the ruling coalition, also reduced VAT rates.

    It comes on the eve of Diwali which will help bring down the skyrocketing prices of fuel and provide some relief to the common man battling inflation.

  • BJP has to be defeated completely to bring down fuel prices by Rs 50: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: A day after the Centre slashed the excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 5 and Rs 10 per litre, respectively, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Thursday said the BJP has to be defeated completely if the fuel prices have to be brought down by Rs 50.

    Slamming the Centre, Raut, whose party shares power with the NCP and Congress in Maharashtra, told reporters that one really needs to be harsh to raise the fuel prices to over Rs 100.

    Petrol prices in the country were over Rs 100 for some time now.

    On Wednesday, the central government cut the excise duty on petrol and diesel by a record Rs 5 and Rs 10 per litre, respectively, to help bring down rates from their highest-ever levels The move came a day after the BJP lost bypolls in some states controlled by it.

    Raut said the reduction of price by Rs 5 is not going to serve any purpose and it should have been brought down first by at least Rs 25, and then Rs 50.

    “After the BJP’s defeat in the bypolls, the Centre reduced the fuel prices by Rs 5. If the price has to be brought down by Rs 50, then the BJP must be defeated completely,” he aid.

    The Rajya Sabha member claimed people have to celebrate Diwali after taking a loan and there is no atmosphere of festivity because of the inflation.

    Following the Centre’s decision to reduce the excise duty, many states, especially those ruled by the BJP, also slashed the Value Added Tax (VAT) on fuels.

    The BJP lost all the three Assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh and Mandi Lok Sabha seat in the northern state, bypolls for which were held on October 30.

    It also failed to win Delgur Assembly bypoll in Maharashtra and the neighbouring Dadra and Nagar Haveli Lok Sabha seat by-election.

  • Petrol price cut by Rs 5.7-6.35, diesel by Rs 11.16-12.88 across country

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Petrol price on Thursday was cut in the range of Rs 5.7 to Rs 6.35 per litre across the country and diesel rates by Rs 11.16 to Rs 12.88 as oil companies passed on a record reduction in excise duty rates to consumers.

    Buckling under pressure, the government had on Wednesday cut excise duty on petrol by Rs 5 per litre and that on diesel by Rs 10 a litre to give reprieve to consumers battered by record high retail fuel prices.

    Since states charge local sales tax or VAT not just on the base price but also on the excise duty levied by the Centre, the total incidence of price reduction is higher.

    The reduction was larger in states with higher VAT.

    In Delhi, the reduction in petrol price was Rs 6.07 per litre and that on diesel was Rs 11.75, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.

    The lowest reduction in petrol price was in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu where rate was cut by Rs 5.7.

    Rajasthan saw the biggest drop of Rs 6.35 a litre.

    For diesel, Chennai had the lowest reduction of Rs 11.16 per litre while Odisha had the biggest at Rs 12.88 a litre.

    In addition, half a dozen BJP-ruled states have announced a cut in VAT rates but a formal notification has so far been issued only in case of four.

    Puducherry saw an additional Rs 7 a litre reduction in both petrol and diesel price because of the cut in value added tax (VAT).

    Goa saw an additional Rs 5.47 a litre cut in petrol and Rs 4.38 on diesel.

    Gujarat too had an additional reduction of Rs 5.65 a litre on petrol and Rs 4.32 on diesel.

    Uttarakhand saw an additional 81 paise reduction in petrol price because of VAT cut.

    Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tripura and Bihar too have announced VAT reduction but a formal notification was not issued till Thursday morning and so no additional price reduction has been effected, industry sources said.

    Petrol will cost Rs 103.97 per litre in Delhi against Rs 110.04, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.

    Diesel rates accordingly will reduce to Rs 86.67 per litre from Rs 98.42.

    In Mumbai, petrol price has been cut by Rs 5.87 to Rs 109.98 and diesel by Rs 12.48 to Rs 94.14.

    Kolkata saw the price of petrol being reduced by Rs 5.82 to Rs 104.67 and that of diesel by Rs 11.77 to Rs 89.79.

    Petrol price in Chennai has been reduced by Rs 5.26 to Rs 101.40 and diesel by Rs 11.16 to Rs 91.43.

    VAT rates differ from state to state, leading to differential rates of fuel.

    The excise duty cut announced on Wednesday night was the highest-ever reduction in excise duty.

    It rolls back a part of the Rs 13 and Rs 16 per litre increase in taxes on petrol and diesel effected between March 2020 and May 2020 to avoid passing on to consumers the sharp fall in international oil prices at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    That hike in excise duty had taken central taxes on petrol to their highest level of Rs 32.9 per litre and that on diesel to Rs 31.8 a litre.

    Reducing the excise duty, the union government also urged states to commensurately reduce VAT on petrol and diesel to give relief to consumers.

    The tax cut follows an unrelenting hike in international oil prices pushing pump rates across the country to their highest-ever levels.

    While petrol soared to above Rs 100-a-litre-mark in all major cities, diesel had crossed that level in more than one-and-a-half dozen states.

    The total increase in petrol price since the May 5, 2020 decision of the government to raise excise duty to record levels had totalled Rs 38.78 per litre.

    Diesel rates have during this period gone up by Rs 29.03 per litre.

    The relentless increase in fuel prices had been severely criticised by Opposition parties, particularly Congress which had demanded that the government reduce its excise duty.

    Based on April to October consumption numbers, the loss of revenue to the government due to the excise duty cut will be Rs 8,700 crore per month.

    This totals to an annual impact of over Rs 1 lakh crore, industry sources said.

    For the remainder of the current fiscal, the impact would be Rs 43,500 crore.

    Data available from the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) in the Union Ministry of Finance showed excise duty collections during April-September 2021 surged to over Rs 1.71 lakh crore, from Rs 1.28 lakh crore mop-up in the same period of the previous fiscal.

    For the full 2020-21 fiscal, excise collections were Rs 3.89 lakh crore and Rs 2.39 lakh crore in 2019-20, the CGA data showed.

    After the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, excise duty is levied only on petrol, diesel, ATF and natural gas.

    All other goods and services are under the GST regime.

    Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameswar Teli had in July told Parliament that the union government’s tax collections on petrol and diesel jumped by 88 per cent to Rs 3.35 lakh crore in the year to March 31, 2021 (2020-21 fiscal) from Rs 1.78 lakh crore a year back.

    Excise collection in pre-pandemic 2018-19 was Rs 2.13 lakh crore.

  • Bihar slashes VAT rates on fuel after centre’s announcement

    By PTI

    PATNA: The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar on Thursday reduced its VAT rate on petrol and diesel by more than Rs 3 per litre, a day after the Centre slashed excise duty on the products in a bid to provide relief to consumers.

    An announcement to this effect was made by the Chief Minister on his Twitter handle.

    “Following the Centre’s move to reduce petrol and diesel prices, the state government has decided to provide additional relief to people by reducing the VAT rates. The prices of petrol will be lowered further by Rs 3.20 per litre while for diesel it will be Rs 3.90 per litre,” Kumar tweeted.

    The Centre had, on Wednesday, made petrol and diesel cheaper by Rs 5 and Rs 10 per litre respectively, a move which has evoked similar response by many states, mostly the ones ruled by the BJP-led NDA.

  • Reduce VAT on petrol, diesel in Madhya Pradesh like other states: Congress

    MP Contress spokesperson said the state government should reduce VAT on the fuels as the BJP-ruled states of Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Tripura have done.