The Central government has decided to reduce the central excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 2 per litre -- effective from today -- which brought down the retail selling prices of the two fuels.
Here are 10 key points to understand the impact of the Centre's decision:
1. In the past few weeks, the retail selling prices of petrol and diesel touched Rs 70.88 per/ litre and Rs 59.14 per litre respectively in Delhi.
2. As per the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas' calculations, the reduction in excise duty will decrease prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 2.50 and Rs 2.25 per litre respectively in New Delhi.
3. The government is monitoring the developments in the prices of petrol and diesel in the international as well as domestic market.
4. State governments are also being requested to make reduction in VAT imposed by them on petrol and diesel so as to give more relief to consumers.
5. According to the government, the decision to reduce the "Basic Excise Duty" rate on petrol and diesel has been taken to cushion the impact of rise in international crude prices.
6. The decision will cost the exchequer Rs 13,000 crore during the remaining part of the fiscal and Rs 26,000 crore for the full year.
7. The oil ministry said in a statement that this measure would help reducing the prices of petrol and diesel and giving relief to consumers.
8. The three state-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) -- Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation -- revise prices of petrol and diesel on a daily basis and these are announced at 6am.
9. Currently, an excise duty component of Rs 21.48 per litre is levied upon petrol -- and, consequent to the reduction in excise duty, this will come down to Rs 19.48.
10. In case of diesel, Rs 17.33 excise is charged per litre -- this will come down to Rs 15.33 per litre.
