The excise duty rates on petrol and diesel have been calibrated to generate resources for infrastructure building and other developmental expenditure keeping in view the prevailing fiscal situation, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said on Tuesday.
In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said petrol price had gone up by `3.83 a litre in May, ` 4.58 in June and `2.73 in July (up to July 16).
In April, the prices of petrol and diesel were revised down by `0.16 and `0.14 a litre, respectively.
The retail selling price of diesel rose by `4.42 a litre in May, `4.03 in June and `0.69 in July (up to July 16).
The retail selling price of petrol and diesel in Delhi on July 16, 2021, stood at `101.54/litre and ` 89.87/litre respectively, he said.
“The excise duty rates on petrol and diesel have been calibrated to generate resources for infrastructure and other developmental items of expenditure keeping in view the prevailing fiscal situation,” Chaudhary said.
In the first three months (April-June) of the current fiscal, the total excise duty collected on petrol and diesel was ` 94,181 crore.
Excise collections on petrol and diesel jumped by 88 per cent to `3.35 lakh crore in the last fiscal ended March 31, 2021, after excise duty was raised to a record high.
Excise duty on petrol was hiked from `19.98 per litre to `32.9 last year to recoup gains arising from international oil prices plunging to multi-year low as the pandemic gulped demand.