NEW DELHI : For the eighth straight day, state-run fuel retailers chose not to decrease petrol and diesel prices in the country. Although crude oil rates have dropped by more than 60% since the beginning of the year but the slide has not translated to a commensurate reduction in fuel rates in India.
After the Finance Bill was passed in the Parliament yesterday, the government now has the power to hike the special additional excise duty to ₹18 and ₹12 for petrol and diesel respectively. So far the limit was set to ₹10 and ₹4. However, the government is yet to issue a notification announcing the hike.
To take advantage of the fall in crude oil rates, the government had recently hiked excise duty by ₹3 a litre each on petrol and diesel.
