Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced that the Union government is reducing the Central excise duty on Petrol by Rs 8 per litre and on Diesel by Rs 6 per litre. This will reduce the price of petrol by Rs 9.5 per litre and of Diesel by Rs 7 per litre.
Finance Minister Sitharaman also announced that the government is reducing the customs duty on raw materials & intermediaries for plastic products where India’s import dependence is high. She said import duty on some raw materials of steel will be reduced while the export duty on some steel products will be levied.
Further, the Union government is taking measures to improve the availability of Cement and through better logistics to reduce the cost of cement, Sitharaman said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted “It is always people first for us. Today’s decisions, especially the one relating to a significant drop in petrol and diesel prices will positively impact various sectors, provide relief to our citizens and further ‘Ease of Living’.”
This comes after Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) on Saturday hiked the rates of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) across the cities where IGL is the main retailer. The step was taken amid the rise in the prices of basic commodities.
This was the second hike in a week after the IGL hiked CNG prices by Rs 2 on May 15. The CNG prices have been hiked in Delhi-NCR and some cities of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. With this increase of Rs 2 per kg, the CNG in Delhi will be retailed at Rs 75.61. Earlier, CNG was priced at Rs 73.61 in the national capital.
