Budget 2019: Higher excise, cess raise fuel prices by Rs 2 per litre

Petrol and diesel prices will rise by Rs 2 a litre from Saturday after the Union Budget proposed an increase in cess and duties, a move that is expected to yield.

 

Rs 30,000 crore for the government. Stating that the softening of crude prices has given the government room to raise rates, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed an increase in special additional excise duty and road and infrastructure cess by Re 1 each. Crude prices have fallen from around $71.34 a barrel in 2018 to $66 a barrel this year.

 

Before the hike, the excise duty on petrol was Rs 17.98 a litre and for diesel was Rs 13.83 a litre. On Friday, petrol and diesel prices were seen at Rs 64.33 and Rs 70.51 a litre respectively in Delhi.  The state governments collectively get their own sales tax/VAT mop-up and around 40 per cent of the non-cess excise collected by the Centre.