| The ministry is afraid this could lead to slippages in meeting the excise and Customs collection targets for the current fiscal. | |
| "There cannot be any further cuts on Customs and excise duties on petroleum products as they account for 45 per cent of our total revenues," Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Chairman A K Singh told reporters. | |
| A final decision on the hiking of prices of diesel and petrol in line with high global oil prices is awaited. | |
| The petroleum ministry had sought a 5 per cent Customs duty cut on crude petroleum, liquefied petroelum gas (LPG) and kerosene and a reduction in the excise duty on LPG and kerosene from 8 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively, to nil. | |
| Revenue department officials said projections had already been reduced by nearly Rs 7,500 crore after Customs and excise duty cuts on petroleum products were announced this year. On an annualised basis, these duty cuts will result in a Rs 8,500 crore revenue loss for the government. | |
| Customs duty on petroleum products was reduced in August this year. On motor speed diesel (MSD) and high speed diesel (HSD), duty was reduced from 20 per cent to 15 per cent. On LPG, it was reduced from 10 per cent to 5 per cent. This led to revenue losses of Rs 2,500 crore. | |
| There were also two rounds of excise duty cuts in June and August, which cost the exchequer Rs 2,500 crore each time. In June, the excise duty on petrol was reduced from 16 per cent basic and 14 per cent special excise duty to 16 per cent basic and 10 per cent special excise duty. In the case of diesel, the basic excise duty was reduced from 14 per cent to 11 per cent, while in the case of LPG it was reduced from 16 per cent to 8 per cent. | |
| In the second round of excise duty cuts, the special excise duty on petrol was further reduced from 10 to 7 per cent. | |
| On diesel, it was reduced to 8 per cent from 11 per cent.
| |
Top Section
Explore Business Standard