Nirmala Sitharaman, the Finance Minister of India, on the 5th of July, announced the Budget for the fiscal year 2019-2020.
After the announcement of the Budget of India, the prices of petrol and diesel rose by Rs. 2.5 per litre in metropolitan cities across India.
As of now, the price of petrol and diesel is Rs. 70.51 and Rs. 64.33 per litre. In Delhi, there will be a hike of Rs. 2.45 and Rs. 2.36 respectively in these prices.
On the other hand, in Mumbai, the new prices of petrol and diesel are Rs. 78.57 and Rs. 69.90 respectively. The prices increased by Rs. 2.42 and Rs. 2.5.
In Kolkata, petrol, which was Rs. 72.75, has now increased by Rs. 2.4, making it Rs. 75.15 per litre. Diesel, which was 66.23, is now 68.59 per litre, after a hike of Rs. 2.36.
Apart from Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, Chennai saw a huge hike as well, with the price of petrol going from Rs. 72.15 to Rs. 75.15 and that of diesel changing from Rs. 67.96 to 70.48.
The prices increased after the announcement of an increase in taxes to fund the Budget of 2019-2020.
Nirmala Sitharaman raised excise duty, road and infrastructure cess on auto fuels by an amount of Rs. 2 per litre, which will help in raising Rs. 28,000 crores.
Ms. Sitharaman also levied Rs. 1 per tonne customs or import duty on crude oil.
According to sources, India has an import of 220 million tonnes of crude oil, owing to which, approximately Rs. 22 crores will be added to the Government’s fund.
As of now, the Government of India (GoI) does not levy any customs duty on crude oil. Only an amount of Rs. 50 is charged as National Calamity Contingent Duty (NCCD) per tonne.
Ms. Sitharaman said, “Crude prices have softened from their highs. This gives me a room to review excise duty and cess on petrol and diesel. I propose to increase Special Additional Excise duty and Road and Infrastructure Cess each by Rs two a litre on petrol and diesel.”
The shares of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Indian Oil Corporation were down after the announcement of the special additional excise duty on petrol and diesel in metropolitan cities.
Stay tuned for further updates.
