INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Excise duty on petrol and diesel was hiked 43 per cent and 68 per cent in 11 monthsExcise duty on petrol and diesel went up by 43 per cent
22.98 per litre on March 14, 2020, just 10 days before the national lockdown was imposed due to the Coronavirus pandemic
It was raised by 43 per cent to Rs 32.90 per litre on February 2, 2021, when the infection was on a downward slide.Similarly the excise duty
on diesel was at Rs 18.83 per litre on March 14, 2020 while it was raised to Rs 31.80 per litre on February 2, 2021, a hike of 68.8 per
cent.The excise duty on petrol which is currently Rs 32.90 per litre, includes basic excise duty of Rs 1.40, road and infrastructure
development cess of Rs 18, agriculture and infrastructure cess of Rs 2.50 and special additional excise duty of Rs 11 is included in it.The
current excise duty on diesel is Rs 31.80 per litre, which includes basic excise duty of Rs.1.80, road and infrastructure development cess
regarding the impact of the rising fuel prices on country's economic recovery from Coronavirus pandemic.The minister said that the revenue
collected by levying these taxes is used in various developmental schemes of the Centre.He said that over the last seven years, length of
national highways have gone up by 50 per cent from 91,287 km (as on April 2014) to 1,37,625 km (as on 20 March 2021)
Highway construction per day in India increased almost three times from 12 km per day in 2014-15 to 33.7 km per day in 2020-21.The cess is
used for infrastructure development and also generates employment, the minister claimed in his reply.
