Excise hike negates fuel price cuts

New Delhi, Feb 1: While state-run oil firms have revised the price of transport fuels from Monday in their fornightly price revision, Indian consumers have been deprived of the latest benefit of falling global crude oil prices owing to hike in excise duty on petrol and diesel on Saturday.

Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) announced that petrol per litre from Monday will cost Rs.59.95 in Delhi, Rs.64.84 in Kolkata, Rs.66.05 in Mumbai and Rs.59.42 in Cheni.

Petrol in Delhi goes up by 92 paise per litre. Had the excise duty not been implemented, the price would have actually fallen.

Although in three other metro cities, the prices have been revised margilly, around 3 or 4 paise a litre, these too would have seen a drop if the government had not mopped up a rupee per litre on petrol and Rs.1.50 on diesel. Similarly, the price of diesel per litre is now Rs.44.68 in Delhi, Rs.48.04 in Kolkata, Rs.51.22 in Mumbai and Rs.45.33 in Cheni.

Petrol per litre till Sunday cost Rs.59.03 in Delhi, Rs.64.87 in Kolkata, Rs.66.09 in Mumbai and Rs.59.45 in Cheni, while diesel was available at Rs.44.18 in Delhi, Rs.48.07 in Kolkata, Rs.51.25 in Mumbai and Rs.45.36 in Cheni.

Basic excise duty on unbranded or normal petrol was increased from Rs.8.48 per litre to Rs.9.48, and on unbranded diesel from Rs.9.83 to Rs.11.33, a Central Board of Excise and Customs notification said.

The increase in excise will fetch the exchequer over Rs.3,200 crore during the remaining part of the fiscal till March-end.

IOC last revised prices on January 15, making under one rupee cuts in transport fuel prices, with petrol prices per litre being reduced by Re.0.32 and diesel by Re.0.85, both at Delhi, with corresponding price revision in other states.

The Indian basket of crude oils, composed of 73 percent sour grade Dubai and Oman crudes and the rest by sweet grade UK Brent, closed on the previous trading day on Thursday at $31.05 a barrel of 159 litres, after having fallen below $25 earlier in the month.