Govt. hikes Excise Duty on Petrol and Diesel

The government raised excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 2 per litre with effect from Thursday midnight, keeping retail pump rates unchanged.

Excise duty on unbranded petrol and diesel hiked to Rs 6.95 per and Rs 5.96 per litre respectively. And, on branded petrol and diesel increased to Rs 8.10 and Rs 8.25 per litre respectively.

The international oil prices slumped to five year low that  allowed the government to hike the excise duty. This is the third time the government hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel since November 2014.

The hike in excise duty will help the government to get additional revenue of Rs 6,000 crore in the last three months of the current fiscal year. The additional revenue will be utilized for road construction sector. In a statement, the government said that it will construct 15,000 km of road in the current and next fiscal year.