NEW DELHI: The Central government has collected Rs 1.22 lakh crore from excise duties on petroleum products in the first six months of the current financial year, according to the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the Ministry of Petroleum. This is 48% of the full year collection of Rs 2.74 lakh crore in the previous year.
The collection of excise duties on petroleum products have been on a continuous decline since 2020-21, when the central government had collected Rs 3.73 lakh crore from the levy.
The Central government began reducing excise duties on petrol and diesel from November 2021, when it cut the excise duty on petrol by Rs 5 and Rs 10 on diesel. In the second phase in May 2020, the government cut duty on petrol by Rs 8 per litre and on diesel by Rs 6 per litre.
The central government levies excise duty of Rs 19.9 a litre on non-branded petrol and Rs 21.10 on branded petrol. On high speed diesel, it charges Rs 15.8 a litre and Rs 18.2 a litre on branded diesel. The state governments further levy local taxes on petrol and diesel.
Currently, petrol price is around Rs 95 a litre and diesel at Rs 88 a litre in Delhi. Before the excise duty cut in November 2021, Petrol price was around Rs 102 a litre.
Meanwhile, the latest report by PPAC shows that crude oil imports increased by 4.2% and 3.5% during October 2024 and April-October 2024-25 respectively as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.
However, imports of petroleum products decreased by 2.2% and increased by 7.7% during October 2024 and April-October 2024-25, respectively as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.
Meanwhile, exports of petroleum products increased by 12.7% and 4.2% during October 2024 and April-October FY 2024-25, respectively as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.