Windfall tax hiked on petroleum crude, lowered on diesel, ATF exports

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The windfall tax has been raised on petroleum crude, and slashed on the exports of diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF), as per a government notification.

The export tax on petroleum crude has been increased from Rs 17,000 to Rs 17,750 per tonne, the notification stated.

The windfall tax on diesel has been reduced from Rs 11 to Rs 5 per litre, whereas, it has been waived off on the export of ATF. Before the revision order was issued, ATF exports drew a tax of Rs 4 per litre.

The government has also decided to maintain nil duty on the export of petrol.

This marks the second major revision by the government within a span of two weeks. On July 20, the Centre had reduced the windfall tax on diesel and aviation fuel shipments by Rs 2 per litre and scrapped completely a Rs 6 per litre levy on gasoline exports. It had also lowered the special additional excise duty on crude oil production to Rs 17,000 per tonne from Rs 23,250.

The recent revisions come in the wake of reports which suggested that the Centre was considering lowering the recently implemented windfall tax as profits of fuel exporters and oil producers are dwindling.