New Delhi, 4 October(Wishav Warta): The government on Tuesday cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 2 per liter to tame inflation and shield consumers from the surging prices. Petrol and diesel will be cheaper by Rs 2 a litre from Wednesday when the first excise duty cut by the Modi government takes effect.
The government, which had between November 2014 and January 2016 raised excise duty on petrol and diesel nine times to take away gains arising from plummeting global prices, was criticised for not reducing the excise duty despite a sustained rise in fuel prices since early July.
In all, duty on petrol was hiked by Rs 11.77 per litre and on diesel by 13.47 a litre in those 15 months that helped government’s excise mop-up more than double to Rs 242,000 crore in 2016-17 from Rs 99,000 crore in 2014-15.
