On Wednesday, the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh Government increased the tax on liquor, petrol and diesel amid Lockdown 3.0 enforced by the Centre due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The hike in country liquor and foreign liquor prices is projected to bring Rs 2,350 crore to the state's dwindling revenues following the lockdown, reported Business Standard. The report said that the prices have been increased for all the categories of foreign liquor viz. economy, medium, regular, premium and imported. The hike for Indian made foreign liquor is in the range from Rs 10 (180 ml) to Rs 400 (500 ml), said UP Finance Minister Suresh Khanna.
Along with liquor, the tax on petroleum products have also increased. The price of petrol has been raised by Rs 2 per litre and of diesel by Rs 1 per litre. This is will raise an additional revenue of Rs 2,070 crore, said Khanna. These hikes will come into effect from midnight today (Wednesday).
Petrol will cost Rs 73.91 per litre while diesel will be available at Rs 63.86 per litre in the state, the Minister said.
"Keeping the current situation in mind it was necessary that we gather additional resources. In this context an important decision was taken to hike prices of diesel and petrol since the petroleum products come under the state government and are outside the ambit of GST," Khanna added.
Earlier, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi Government imposed a 'Special Corona Fee' on alcohol, amounting to an increase of 70 per cent on MRP. "Delhi government is imposing Special corona fee on alcohol sale. It will be 70 per cent of the MRP. The new rates will be imposed from Tuesday morning," the Finance Department had said in a statement.
The petrol price in the national capital was also hiked by Rs 1.67 per litre on Tuesday and diesel by a Rs 7.10 per litre.
(With PTI inputs)
