Excise duty on petrol and diesel will not be reduced ઃ Nirmala Sitharaman

(PTI) New delhi date. 13

Amid calls for reduction in excise duty to bring down petrol and diesel prices, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaram has made it clear that excise duty on both fuels will not be reduced. Explaining the reason behind non-reduction of excise duty, the finance minister said the government was still paying interest on the previous UPA government which had brought in all bonds.

Sitaram said the central government has paid a total of Rs 20,12.5 crore in interest on oil bonds in the last five years. Out of the Rs 1.5 lakh crore oil bonds, only Rs 500 crore has been paid so far. The remaining principal amount of Rs 1.5 lakh crore is to be paid by 207.

According to the finance minister, the government has to pay Rs 10,000 crore in the current financial year 2021-2, Rs 21,120 crore in 206-9, Rs 4,50 crore in 206-9 and Rs 3,17 crore in the financial year 206-2.

It may be mentioned that last year, the excise duty on petrol was Rs 13.5, which has gone up to Rs 2.50. State-level Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameshwar Teli told Parliament last month that the tax revenue on petrol and diesel had risen by 3 per cent to Rs 4.5 lakh crore. Which was Rs 1.5 lakh crore last year.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made an important announcement that rules would be framed soon to end the retrospective tax demand. The central government has a long-running feud with Cairn Energy and Vodafone. Now the government has decided to repeal this tax.

Nirmala Sitaram said that the problems in the new website of the Income Tax Department will be resolved soon. Most of the problems will go away in the next two weeks. He said he was in constant touch with Infosys, the company that created the website.