FM rules out rollback of duties on petro products

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today conceded that there may be some cascading effect on prices due to the hike in petrol and diesel prices but ruled out a rollback in duties.

"It will be inflationary to some extent. I am told by the Economic Division (of Finance Ministry) that the impact will be 0.41 per cent on WPI (Wholesale Price Index). There may be some cascading effect," he told private TV news channel when asked about the impact of the taxes on oil and its products.

The WPI inflation currently is ruling around 8.6 per cent.

Asked whether the excise and custom duty increase that resulted in a Rs 2.71 increase in petrol and Rs 2.55 a litre hike in diesel, would be rolled back, he said: "No, where is the question of rollback. If there was question of rollback, I I would not have put it. There was no compulsion."

He said the duties like 5 per cent import duty on crude oil was abolished when international crude price touched a record high of $147 a barrel.

"I wanted to give a message that when prices go down, we should be ready to pay duties," he said stressing the duties levied were not new and existed even before.

On the entire opposition walking out during his Budget presentation, Mukherjee said: "They should have had some patience... They shouldn't have walked out. They should have waited patiently because in the last part of my speech, series of concessions for farmers were announced."