Petrol, diesel contribute Rs 30,000 cr addl excise in Apr-Aug

Hike in clean energy cess yields Rs 3,000 cr, withdrawal of excise sops on auto, consumer goods adds Rs 3,500 cr

Additional revenue initiatives have yielded rich dividend for the government as it has mopped up an extra Rs 36,500 crore in excise collections from April- August, with bulk of the amount coming from petroleum sector.

Four hikes in excise duty on petrol and diesel between November 2014 and January 2015 have generated an additional revenue of Rs 30,000 crore in the first five months of the current fiscal, a senior official told PTI.

Besides, the hike in clean energy cess from Rs 100 to Rs 200 per tonne of coal, etc, which was announced in the Budget, has helped the government garner more than Rs 3,000 crore during the period.

Additionally, the withdrawal of excise duty concessions on automobile and consumer goods have yielded additional excise revenue of Rs 3,500 crore in April-August, the official added.

Thus, the total excise duty realisation during April- August jumped 69.7 per cent to over Rs 1.02 lakh crore. It was Rs 60,663 crore during the corresponding period last fiscal.

However, after discounting for the additional excise collection on account of change in duty structure in petroleum and other sectors, the increase in excise duty collections works out to be 9 per cent.

Excise duty has contributed around 40 per cent of the total indirect tax collection during April-August. The indirect tax revenues during the five month period is over Rs 2.63 lakh crore.

The government had raised excise duty on petrol and diesel in view of the declining crude oil prices in the international market.

Tax on petrol and diesel was raised by Rs 1.50 a litre each from November 12. Then again from December 2, the excise duty on petrol was increased by Rs 2.25 per litre and by Re 1 on diesel. It further raised by Rs 2 per litre on January 2 and by a similar amount on January 16.

Besides, in Budget 2015, the clean energy cess was doubled to Rs 200 per tonne of coal, etc to finance clean environment initiatives.

The UPA government, in order to boost the consumer durable and automobile sectors that were struggling in the wake of economic downturn, had cut excise duty on cars, SUVs, two-wheelers and consumer durables in the interim Budget in February 2014. The concession, however, was withdrawn from January 1, 2015.