Centre confess to earning Rs 33 and Rs 32 per litre from petrol and diesel respectively

Central government has confessed to earning Rs 32.98 on every litre of petrol and Rs 31.83 per litre of diesel in the form of excise duty. In response to a question, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur told the Lok Sabha that the excise duty rates have been calibrated to generate resources for development projects.

In comparison, between March and May 5, 2020, the central government’s per litre earning on petrol and diesel was almost Rs 23 and Rs 19, respectively on one litre of diesel. Between January 1, 2020, and March 13, 2020, only Rs 20 on a litre of petrol and Rs 16 on a litre of diesel were going to the Centre.

Between January 1, 2020, and March 13, 2020, only Rs 20 on a litre of petrol and Rs 16 on a litre of diesel were going to the Centre.

As for whether petrol and diesel prices in India were higher than those in international markets, Thakur said that the government doesn’t maintain a record of factors that determine these prices abroad.

Talking about the reasons for hiking taxes on transportation fuels, Thakur stated, “The excise duty rates have been calibrated to generate resources for infrastructure and other developmental items of expenditure keeping in view the present fiscal position.”

On Monday, unbranded petrol was retailing in Delhi at Rs 91.17 per litre while diesel was Rs 81.47. In Mumbai, petrol was retailing at Rs 97.57, while diesel cost Rs 88.60.