The Central excise duty on petrol has been cut by Rs 8 per litre and on diesel by Rs 6 per litre, reducing the price of petrol by Rs 9.5 per litre and of diesel by Rs 7 per litre, amidst rising energy prices and inflation, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
“Today, the world is passing through difficult times. Even as the world is recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ukraine conflict has brought in supply chain problems and shortages of various goods. This is resulting in inflation & economic distress in a lot of countries,” she said in a series of tweets.
She also added that despite the challenging international situation, the government has ensured that there are no shortages or scarcities of essential goods. Even a few developed countries couldn’t escape some shortages or disruptions, she added. Also, the government is committed to ensuring that prices of essential items are kept under control, she said.
“I wish to exhort all state governments, especially the states where the reduction wasn’t done during the last round (November 2021), to also implement a similar cut and give relief to the common man.” she said.
In yet another major move, the government has decided that this year it will give a subsidy of Rs 200 per gas cylinder (upto 12 cylinders) to over 9 crore beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana.
Further, it is also reducing the customs duty on raw materials and intermediaries for plastic products where the country’s import dependence is high. It will result in a reduction in the cost of final products.
A notification with specific details on all these mentioned moves will be issued by the Centre within the next hours.
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