In Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram, petrol price reached Rs.80.35.In India, Mumbai hit the charts with a Petrol price of Rs.84.07, making it highest in the country. Since the Modi govt. has taken charge the petrol-diesel excise duties have been increased 9 times! Not enough of this central burn, the states including Kerala rubbed salt to the wounds of people with the announcement that they would never decrease their state excise duties. Thus the ball is getting passed from one post to another in a never-ending match between the states and the center. While they play blame games all the time, common man’s life burden is getting increased day by day with the petrol price hike reflecting the hike in all the other sectors.
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well, a recent statement by Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to The Times Now offered some relief to the common man. Dharmendra Pradhan told Time Now that the government was considering a cut in the excise duty. This step is to soften the impact of rising international crude oil and a weakening rupee on retail prices of petrol and diesel.
In Bhuvaneshwar while speaking to TOI he said that the center was exploring some alternatives and hoped something would be worked out soon. The minister blamed OPEC nations and the US for the current rise in petrol prices. He said that the current price hike was due to the decision to minimize production by OPEC(Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries ) and the US sanctions on Iran.
In Delhi, an increase in 33 paise on Monday made the petrol price Rs.76.57 and a 25 paise increase in diesel made the price Rs.67.82.This price hike happened after the eighth successive hike after the resumption of the price revision by the oil companies on April 14 after 19 days of freeze due to Karnataka elections.
The price hike in Maharashtra is the highest because of the higher VAT and other levies. Petrol price in Mumbai is Rs.84.40 and Diesel price is Rs.72.21 in the Indian Oil pumps.
Dharmendra Pradhan had been ruling out any cut in the excise duty saying that the price hike was temporary. In many instances, he also urged states to cut VAT and bring fuels under the GST. Seconding Dharmendra Pradhan Economic Affairs Secretary Subash Chandra Garg too had ruled out a tax cut. However, the Oil Minister’s new statement on Monday, suggests a rethink on his previous thoughts.
The central Government had raised the excise duty by 9 times aggregating Rs 11.77 per liter on petrol and Rs 13.47 on diesel to shore up its revenue, between November 14, 2015, to January 2016. After August 2017, when international crude oil prices started moving up, the government cut the excise duty only once by Rs.2 in October.
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