Petrol price reduced by Rs 9.5 per litre, diesel by Rs 7 per litre as Centre cuts excise duty

The price of petrol will come down by Rs 9.5, while the diesel will be cheaper by Rs 7 as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a sharp cut in central excise duty on fuel prices amid surging inflation.

The central excise duty on petrol has been cut by Rs 8 per litre and the same on diesel has been cut by Rs 6 per litre, said Ms Sitharaman. The government says it will lose Rs 1 lakh crore by taking the cut on central excise duties.

The Minister exhorted states to implement a similar cut and pass on the benfit to the common man.

“I wish to exhort all state governments, especially the states where reduction wasn’t done during the last round (November 2021), to also implement a similar cut and give relief to the common man,” appealed Ms Sitharaman.

Also, the government will give Rs 200 per cylinder subsidy to Ujjwala Yojana beneficiaries for 12 cylinders in a year to help ease some of the burden arising from cooking gas rates rising to record levels.

“This will help our mothers and sisters,” tweeted Ms Sitharaman.

The Finance Minister said the gas cylinder subsidy will have a “revenue implication of around Rs 6,100 crore.”