Excise duty, cess on petrol, diesel to get resources for development: Pradhan

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday justified the increase in excise duty as well as road and infrastructure cess on petrol and diesel, saying the move will get resources for the developmental projects.

"It is essential to make roads and provide electricity, water and sanitation to poor people of the country. There is a requirement for investment on building roads. To collect resources for these things, the government has marginally increased excise duty on petrol. This is done for the welfare projects of the people. I hope the people of the country will support the government on this," Pradhan told ANI.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today announced an additional excise duty and road and infrastructure cess each by one rupee per litre of petrol and diesel.

Pradhan further said, "The budget is very progressive. It is the first document of the road-map for the next 10 years. Employment in the country will increase in the coming days. Investment in infrastructure has increased."

"The Government, and RBI have taken a historical decision in this budget by waiving off Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) that used to be imposed on either customers or merchants. It will increase digital transactions," he said.