Bhubaneswar: In a much-needed relief for the common man, the Centre today announced a reduction in Central Excise Duty on petrol by Rs 8 per litre and on diesel by Rs 6 per litre.
Announcing the reduction, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the reduction in Central Excise Duty will reduce the price of petrol by Rs 9.50 per litre and of diesel by Rs 7 per litre.
The new rates for petrol and diesel will be effective from 6.00 AM tomorrow.
Sitharaman further announced that the Centre will give a subsidy of Rs 200 per gas cylinder (maximum up to 12) to beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana.
“This will help our mothers and sisters. This will have a revenue implication of around Rs 6,100 crore a year,” she said.
“Today, the world is passing through difficult times. Even as the world is recovering from Covid-19 pandemic, the Ukraine conflict has brought in supply chain problems and shortages of various goods. This is resulting in inflation & economic distress in a lot of countries,” she said in a series of tweets.
The duty cut will have a revenue implication of around Rs 1 lakh crore per year for the government.
Sitharaman went on say that despite the challenging international situation, the government has ensured that there are no shortages or scarcity of essential goods. Even a few developed countries couldn’t escape some shortages or disruptions, she added.
The government is committed to ensuring that prices of essential items are kept under control, she said.
She said: “I wish to exhort all state governments, especially the states where the reduction wasn’t done during the last round (November 2021), to also implement a similar cut and give relief to the common man.”
Further, it is also reducing the customs duty on raw materials and intermediaries for plastic products where the country’s import dependence is high. It will result in the reduction of the cost of final products.
A notification with specific details on all these mentioned moves will be issued by the Centre within the next hours.
