After weeks of fuel prices being at record levels, the Union government cut the excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 5 and Rs 10, respectively, to bring down rates, effective from November 4. Further, several states, such as Gujarat, Karnataka, Sikkim, Manipur, Tripura, Assam and Goa, have slashed Value added Tax (VAT) by Rs 7 per litre on both petrol and diesel. Other states that have slashed taxes include Odisha (by Rs 3), Haryana (by Rs 12), Gujarat (by Rs 7), Delhi (by Rs 6.07 per litre on petrol and diesel by Rs 11.75), Uttar Pradesh (by Rs 7 and Rs 2 respectively on petrol and diesel), Uttarakhand by Rs 2, and Bihar (by Rs 1.30 on petrol and Rs 1.90 on diesel).
In the southern states, the only BJP-ruled state, Karnataka, announced slashing of rates. The rates will come into effect either on the evening of November 4 or from November 5.
As per Indian Oil, in Bengaluru, the price of petrol on November 4 was Rs 107.64 for petrol and Rs 92.03 for diesel. In Mysuru, petrol cost Rs 107.11 and diesel cost Rs 91.54. In Thiruvananthapuram, the price of petrol was Rs 106.36 per litre and diesel came in at Rs 93.47 per litre. In Kochi, petrol cost Rs 104.20 per litre and diesel came in at Rs 91.45 per litre. Hyderabad saw petrol priced at Rs 108.20 and diesel at Rs 96.42. In Vijayawada, petrol was priced at Rs 109.91 per litre and diesel at Rs 96.03 per litre. In Visakhapatnam, it was Rs 109.45 per litre of petrol and Rs 95.18 for diesel. In Chennai, petrol came in at Rs 101.40 per litre and diesel at Rs 91.43 per litre.
In Delhi, the price of petrol was Rs 103.97 per litre and Rs 86.67 per litre for diesel. In Mumbai, the petrol price has been cut by Rs 5.87 to Rs 109.98 per litre and diesel by Rs 12.48 to Rs 94.14 per litre.
The total increase in petrol price since the May 5, 2020, decision of the government to raise excise duty to record levels now totals Rs 38.78 per litre. Diesel rates, during this period, went up by Rs 29.03 per litre.
Prior to the cut, the government's collection from levy of excise duty on petroleum products had risen 33% in the first six months of the current fiscal when compared to last year and was 79% more than pre-COVID levels.
The reduction follows an unrelenting hike in international oil prices pushing pump rates across the country to their highest-ever levels. While petrol was above Rs 100-a-litre-mark in all major cities, diesel has crossed that level in more than one-and-a-half dozen states.
This is the highest-ever reduction in excise duty and rolls back a part of the Rs 13 and Rs 16 per litre increase in taxes on petrol and diesel effected between March 2020 and May 2020, to avoid passing on to consumers the sharp fall in international oil prices. That hike in excise duty had taken central taxes on petrol to their highest level of Rs 32.9 per litre and that on diesel to Rs 31.8 a litre.
(With inputs from PTI)