Petrol Diesel Tax Relief : The government has withdrawn the windfall tax imposed on petrol, diesel and jet fuel within three weeks, amid the fall in crude prices in the international market and heavy pressure from oil companies. The government had imposed this unprecedented tax on the export of fuel on July 1. Then international crude oil prices were at $ 120, which has now come down to $ 100.

The Finance Ministry said in its notification that the tax on the export of petrol has been reduced by Rs 6 per liter, while the jet fuel (ATF) has also been reduced from Rs 6 per liter to Rs 4 per liter. Tax on diesel has been reduced from Rs 13 per liter to Rs 11 a litre. Additional tax of Rs 23,250 on domestic crude oil product has been reduced to Rs 17,000 per tonne.

why tax was imposed

While imposing this tax on July 1, the government had said that due to the wildly rising prices of crude oil in the global market, the tax was imposed on exports to prevent the increase in the retail price of petrol and diesel in the domestic market. This was aimed at getting the companies to consume the refined fuel in the domestic market instead of exporting it here, so that the supply could be better and the prices could be reduced. Since the implementation of this additional tax, the oil companies were opposing it.

Only 2 companies benefit from exemption

This decision of the government will benefit companies exporting refine fuel like Reliance. Apart from this, Rosneft’s company Naira Energy will also benefit from the new decision. Together these two companies export about 85 per cent of the fuel. Experts had estimated that the government would earn about Rs 1 lakh crore in a year from this decision.