The government has hiked the excise duty on petrol and diesel once again, making it the third increase in prices this month. The excise duty on petrol is up by Rs 1 per litre while on diesel it is up by Rs 1.5 per litre.
The government has been garnering additional revenue by taking advantage of the slump in oil prices. This hike will be in addition to the excise duty rise on 16th January, which was Rs 0.75 per litre on petrol and a huge Rs 2 per litre for diesel.
The excise duty on petrol has increased from Rs 8.48 per litre to Rs 9.48 per litre. However, diesel has gone up to Rs 11.33 per litre from Rs 9.83 per litre. With an expected additional Rs 3,200 crore from this price hike, they hope to gather around Rs 17,000 crore in total. The government had collected close to Rs 1,00,000 crore in excise collections from the petroleum sector in 2014-2015.
It is unlikely that the rise in excise duty will affect the selling price of petrol and diesel as there is a slump in oil prices internationally.
