In a significant move to reduce the burden of the common man, the Central government on Wednesday, on the eve of Diwali 2021, announced a massive cut in excise duty levied on petrol and diesel prices across the country to bring down the ever-increasing rates.
Petrol and diesel prices have reached an all-time high in almost every city with a continuous increase in the prices since the past few weeks.
As per the notification by the Ministry of Finance, the excise duty on petrol will come down by Rs 5 and that on diesel by Rs 10 and it will be effective from Thursday. The government also urged the states “to commensurately reduce” VAT on petrol and diesel to give relief to consumers.
Following the reduction in excise duty by the Central government and the request from the states to reduce prices further, 9 BJP-ruled states have announced additional cuts in petrol and diesel rates. The nine states where additional cuts have been announced on petrol and diesel prices are Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Karnataka, Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
The Assam government has announced a reduction of Value Added Tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel by Rs 7 bringing down the fuel rates in the states significantly. Currently, a litre of petrol in Assam is retailing at Rs 106.10, while diesel is available at Rs 98.36 per litre. With price cut by the Centre (Rs 5 on petrol and Rs 10 on diesel) and state government (Rs 7), the petrol price will go down by Rs 12, while diesel prices will go down by Rs 17. Manipur government also announced a similar decision to cut VAT by Rs 7 on petrol and diesel rates.
A similar decision was announced by the Tripura government where VAT on fuel prices was reduced by Rs 7. After central and state governments deduction in fuel prices, petrol and diesel will be cheaper by Rs 12 and Rs 17 respectively in Tripura from today. Pramod Sawant-led Goa government also announced a similar decision and reduced VAT on diesel and petrol prices by Rs 7 bringing down the petrol price by Rs 12 and diesel price by Rs 17 in the state.
Basavaraj Bommai-led Karnataka government also followed the suit and reduced the VAT on diesel and petrol prices by Rs 7. After the rate cuts by the Centre and state government, petrol price in Karnataka decreased by Rs 12 while diesel rates were decreased by Rs 17. Gujarat government also announced the implementation of the Centre’s decision, and reduced prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 7 per litre in the state. Following the rate cuts, the petrol and diesel prices in Gujarat will come down by Rs 12 and Rs 17 respectively.
Meanwhile, Yogi Adityanatah-led Uttar Pradesh government announced a reduction in VAT by Rs 7 on petrol prices and Rs 2 on diesel prices. Now with the cut in excise duty by the Centre and reduction of VAT by the state government, their prices will come down by Rs 12 per litre in the state. The Uttarakhand government also announced a reduction in VAT on petrol by Rs 2 per litre in the state. With this, petrol prices in Uttarakhand will go down by Rs 7. Meanwhile, the Himachal Pradesh government announced that it will soon announce the additional reduction in petrol and diesel prices.
The Haryana government today also announced the reduction of VAT on petrol and diesel prices in the state. Now ith this additional price cut, petrol and diesel will be cheaper by Rs 12 across Haryana.
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