Govt cuts excise duty on petrol by Rs 8, diesel by Rs 6

Bowing to public pressure, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced an Rs 8 per litre cut in excise duty on petrol and Rs 6 a litre on diesel to avoid increase in fuel prices that were necessitated due to surge in international oil prices.

Also, the government will give Rs 200 per cylinder subsidy to Ujjwala Yojana beneficiaries for 12 cylinders in a year to help ease some of the burden arising from cooking gas rates rising to record levels.

Taking to Twitter Niramala wrote, “Our government, since when PM India Narendra Modi took office, it is devoted to the welfare of the poor.We’ve taken a number of steps to help the poor and middle class. As a result, the average inflation during our tenure has remained lower than during previous governments.”

“I wish to exhort all state governments, especially the states where reduction wasn’t done during the last round (November 2021), to also implement a similar cut and give relief to the common man,” added Sitharaman in another tweet.