The Indian government has cut special additional excise duties on petrol and diesel in a bid to reduce losses of oil companies amid the Middle East conflict.
The finance ministry reduced the special excise duty on petrol to ₹3 per litre from ₹13 earlier and cut the duty on diesel to zero from ₹10.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the central excise duty on petrol and diesel for domestic consumption has been reduced by ₹10 per litre each in view of the West Asia crisis.
The move aims to provide protection to consumers from a rise in prices, she said, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always ensured that citizens are protected from the vagaries of supply and costs of essential goods.
The government has also imposed duties on exports of Diesel at ₹21.5 per litre and on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) at ₹29.5 per litre, she said.
The changes were notified through amendments to central excise rules and duty structures, which 'shall come into force with immediate effect', as per the Gazette notification.
There is unlikely to be any immediate impact on pump prices.
