Excise duty collection on petrol-diesel increases by a whopping 48 per cent in the current financial year

New Delhi, 17 January 2021 Sunday

Although all types of tax collection have declined due to the Corona epidemic, excise duty collection in taxes has increased by 48% during the current financial year, due to record growth in excise duty collection on diesel and petrol, according to data obtained by CGA during April-November 2020. Duty collection increased from Rs 1,32,899 crore to Rs 1,96,342 crore during the period of 2019.

Despite the decline in diesel sales by 10 million tonnes during the first eight months of the current financial year, diesel is the most widely used fuel in India. According to the Ministry of Petroleum, diesel sales during April-November 2020 fell to 44.9 million tonnes from 55.40 million tonnes a year ago, while petrol sales fell to 174 million tonnes from 2.04 million tonnes a year ago.

It may be mentioned here that petroleum products and natural gas have been kept out of GST, GST system has been implemented in the country since 2017, and the government levies excise duty on it, while the state government levies VAT. The main reason for the increase in excise duty collection is the record increase in the rates of petroleum products.

The government has twice increased the excise duty collection on petrol by Rs 13 per liter and diesel by Rs 16 per liter during the current financial year. During the entire year 2019-20, the government has received revenue of Rs 2,39,599 crore through excise duty collection.