India not looking to cut excise duty on fuel right now: Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra

In November, 2021, the central government reduced the excise duty on per litre of petroleum by 5 rupees and on diesel by 10 rupees.

India is currently not looking at lowering the excise duty on petroleum and diesel with rates already quite low following the two cuts administered in November 2021 and May 2022, Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra told Moneycontrol in an interview.

“The government continuously monitors inflation and takes measures on excise as well as customs side to control it on need basis. This is ongoing exercise not only for petrol and diesel but also for many other essential produces,” Malhotra added.

In November, 2021, the central government reduced the excise duty on per litre of petroleum by 5 rupees and on diesel by 10 rupees, while another round of cuts came in May, 2022, wherein the duty was lowered by 8 rupees on a litre of petrol and 6 rupees on diesel.

The central government’s collections from excise duties have been pegged at 3.39 lakh crore rupees for the current fiscal, targeting a growth of nearly 6% over the revised estimates of the previous financial year. Infact, for FY23, the government has revised downwards the Budget estimate for mop up from excise duties by 15,000 crore rupees.