22.5.22

Centre slashes excise duty on petrol, diesel


The Centre slashed excise duty by Rs 8 on petrol and Rs 6 on diesel to bring down fuel prices and ease inflation by reducing transportation charges for the common man’s daily staples.

The government also announced a Rs 200 subsidy on each LPG cylinder for over 9 crore consumers who were given connection free of cost under the Ujjwala programme, one of the Modi government’s flagship social welfare schemes launched in 2016.

The Centre will forego Rs 1 lakh crore in tax revenue in this fiscal as a result of the excise duty cut. The subsidy for Ujjwala consumers will entail an expenditure of Rs 6,100 crore, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while announcing the decisions.

This is the second duty cut by the Centre in a little more than six months.

The Centre announced a raft of duty cuts to cool down prices of iron and steel, coal and plastic. To
cushion the impact of the Ukraine war, it will provide an extra Rs 1.10 lakh crore in addition to the
existing fertiliser subsidy of Rs 1.05 lakh crore. Along with a reduction in import duty on iron and
steel, the Centre imposed import duty on a host of steel products. These will benefit user industries
and small-scale players that have been hit by a jump in prices. Measures are also afoot to improve
availability and price of cement.

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