No roll-back of excise duty hike on diesel, petrol: FinMin

The govt recently hiked excise duty in two tranches on diesel as well as petrol in order to garner about Rs 10,500 crore in the current financial year

The government today said it has no plans to roll-back the recent hike in excise duty on diesel and petrol.

"No, Sir," Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said in a written reply when asked whether the government would review and withdraw the increase in central excise duties.

The government recently hiked excise duty in two tranches on diesel as well as petrol in order to garner about Rs 10,500 crore in the current financial year.

Sinha said the increase in the duty has been effected, inter alia, "taking into consideration the continued fall in international prices of crude".

He also said that the "present circumstances" do not warrant a change in the excise duty structure on petrol and diesel.

The excise duty on diesel is Rs 5.96 per litre (unbranded) and Rs 8.25 per litre (branded). For unbranded and branded petrol, the excise duty is Rs 12.95 per litre and Rs 14.10 per litre, respectively.

The international crude oil price of Indian Basket was $60.10 (Rs 3,765.27) per barrel on December 15, down from $60.58 (3,782.62) per bbl on December 12.