The central government has extended the October 1 deadline to levy an additional ₹2 per litre tax on unblended auto fuels by one month for petrol and by six months for diesel amid global crude oil price volatility and high inflation, providing relief to consumers in remote areas with inadequate supplies of ethanol or biodiesel.
The deadline for petrol has been extended to November 1 and diesel to April 1, a notification issued on Friday said. If the levy was not extended, pump prices of petrol and diesel in many places could have gone up significantly as retailers could no longer absorb the impact, two persons aware of the development said, requesting anonymity.
The Union budget on February 1 announced the levy on unblended petrol and diesel to nudge pumps to sell petrol blended with ethanol and diesel blended with biodiesel from October 1.
