Representational image.
Petrol and Diesel have been cut down across the country from today (Thursday) after the Centre on Wednesday announced a reduction in the excise duty by Rs 5 and Rs 10 respectively. Following government's move, several states including Assam, Tripura, Karnataka, Goa, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh among others have also announced a reduction in VAT to bring down fuel prices in their respective states.
States including Assam, Tripura, Karnataka, Goa, Manipur have reduced petrol, diesel prices by Rs 7 while Uttarakhand has reduced VAT by Rs 2.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh said that after reduction of taxes /duties by Centre and the State, the prices of Diesel and Petrol here have been slashed by Rs 12 per litre.
After Centre reduced excise duty on Wednesday, Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, "the states should add to this celebration by reducing VAT on fuel to give further relief to consumers."
The decision of the Centre to reduce excise duty on petrol & diesel also sets the template for the state governments to follow suit. Concrete action from states will lead to the further reduction in fuel price & more relief to consumers, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said.
The reduction in excise duty on diesel will be double that of petrol and will come as a boost to the farmers during the upcoming Rabi season. States urged to reduce VAT on petrol and diesel to give relief to consumers, government sources said on Wednesday.
In recent months, crude oil prices have witnessed a global upsurge. Consequently, domestic prices of petrol & diesel had increased in recent weeks exerting inflationary pressure. The world has also seen shortages and increased prices of all forms of energy, the finance ministry said.
The government has made efforts to ensure that there is no energy shortage in the country and that commodities such as petrol & diesel are available adequately to meet our requirements, it added.
To give a further fillip to the economy, it has decided to significantly reduce excise duty on diesel & petrol. The reduction will also boost consumption and keep inflation low, thus helping the poor, middle classes, the finance ministry further mentioned.
The fuel prices were kept unchanged on Wednesday. The petrol and diesel prices in the national capital today are Rs 110.04 and Rs 98.42 per litre respectively.
Petrol, Diesel price on Wednesday
The price of petrol in Mumbai is Rs 115.85 and the diesel is Rs 106.62 per liter. Petrol in Kolkata costs Rs 110.49 while diesel costs Rs 101.56 a litre. At the same time, in Chennai, petrol is Rs 106.66 a liter and diesel is Rs 102.59 a liter, according to Indian Oil Corporation.
Earlier, oil companies had increased the prices of petrol and diesel throughout the week. While diesel prices remained stable on Tuesday, petrol prices increased by 31 to 35 paise.
List of states where petrol is above Rs 100 per litre before excise, VAT reduction
The price of petrol has crossed Rs 100 in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Petrol price is highest in Mumbai.
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