Excise duty on petrol raised by record Rs 10 a litre, diesel by Rs 13

The hike in duty has taken away gains from falling global crude oil prices

The government on Tuesday evening hiked excise duty by a record Rs 10 per litre on petrol and Rs 13 per litre on diesel to garner Rs 1.6 trillion additional revenue as it repeated its time-tested formula of not passing on gains arising from a slump in international oil prices.

Retail prices of petrol and diesel will not be impacted by the tax changes as state-owned oil firms will adjust them against the recent fall in oil prices, industry officials said.

According to a notification issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, special additional excise duty on petrol has