Petrol now costs Rs 22.84 a litre to state-owned oil companies, while the consumer pays more by way of taxes than this purchase price
NEW DELHI : Thanks to sharp drop in international price of crude oil, Petrol now costs Rs 22.84 a litre to state-owned oil companies, while the consumer pays more by way of taxes than this purchase price. Central excise duty and education surcharge accounts for Rs 17.46 a litre plus the value added tax (VAT) which is Rs 10.16 a litre in Delhi.
Added to the basic purchase price and taxes are the oil companies’ profit of Rs 6.42 on every litre of petrol sold and the dealer gets a commission of Rs 2.03 and thus the Delhi consumer has to actually pay Rs 58.91 a litre, which is much more than double the purchase price of oil firms.
When the government slapped a hike of Rs 2 a litre on the excise duty while reducing the petrol price by Rs 2.42 a litre, oil companies did not make public details of the taxes on petrol as they used to do in the past. Oil companies made the excuse that petrol is no more a controlled commodity and hence they are not required to reveal details while fixing the selling price.
Perhaps for the first time, petrol in India costs more than the superior jet fuel (ATF) used in aeroplanes, as the government has levied a record excise duty on the fuel used in two-wheelers and cars.
A litre of petrol in Delhi costs Rs 58.91 per litre. On the other hand, Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF), which has a higher octane than petrol and is a heavier fraction in the distillation process, is priced at Rs 52.42 a litre. Traditionally, petrol being of lesser quality than ATF, would cost less. But four consecutive excise duty hikes in three months have reversed this.
After four duty hikes totalling Rs 7.75 per litre, petrol now attracts highest ever excise rate of Rs 16.95 per litre.
