Govt not planning to cut fuel excise duty for now

(Representative image)

The government is not planning to cut excise duty cut on fuel products right now due to fiscal concerns, CNBC-TV18 has reported.

Additional expenditure for FY22 at the time of revised estimates of budget is expected, sources told the news channel.

A Rs 10 cut in fuel excise duty will impact fiscal deficit by 0.58 percent, and cool inflation only by 0.2 percent, the report said.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on July 20, the Centre said excise duty on petrol and diesel have been calibrated to generate resources for infrastructure building and other developmental expenditure

"The government is making concerted efforts to raise resources for infrastructure and other developmental items of expenditure, the details of which were announced in the annual Budget. The excise duty rates on petrol and diesel have been calibrated to generate these resources keeping in view the prevailing fiscal situation. VAT on petrol and diesel are levied by states," Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said.

The is sufficient balance in the budget for food , fertiliser subsidies, vaccination for now, CNBC-TV18 reported.

An additional outgo on COVID-19 vaccination is expected at around 5,000-6,000 crore, which would take the vaccine budget to Rs 40,000c-41,000 crore.