New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced a sharp cut in the central excise duty on fuel prices.
The Finance Minister’s announcement will make petrol cheaper by Rs 9.5 and diesel by Rs 7.
The central excise duty on petrol has been cut by Rs 8 per litre and Rs 6 on diesel.
The Finance Minister said that with these cuts, the government will lose Rs 1 lakh crore.
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She further urged the state governments to implement similar cuts to “pass of the benefit to the common man.
She added, “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.”
She also added, “Also, this year, we will give a subsidy of ? 200 per gas cylinder (upto 12 cylinders) to over 9 crore beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. This will help our mothers and sisters. This will have a revenue implication of around ? 6100 crore a year.”
She also said, “We’ve taken a number of steps to help the poor and middle class. As a result, the average inflation during our tenure has remained lower than during previous governments.”
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It may be mentioned that fuel prices in the country have seen an all-time high. Most states in the country have petrol priced over Rs 100 and even if the prices are slashed, some states will still have the prices above the 100 mark.