Indian govt hikes excise duty on petrol, diesel again

NEW DELHI, Jan 17 (PTI): Indian government Friday hiked  excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 2 per litre each to  take away gains coming by way of global oil prices dipping to  six-year lows.
Retail pump rates will remain unchanged as the increase  in excise duty neutralises the cut in petrol and diesel prices  warranted from crude oil price slumping to about $46 per  barrel.
This is the fourth increase in excise duty on the two  fuels since November and cumulatively customers have been  denied the benefit of Rs 7.75 per litre reduction in petrol  and Rs 6.50 a litre cut in diesel rates that was warranted due  to the slump.
A Finance Ministry notification said excise duty on  unbranded petrol is being hiked to Rs 8.95 per litre and that  on unbranded diesel to Rs 7.96 per litre.
The four excise duty hikes will result in about Rs 20,000  crore in additional revenue this fiscal and will help the  government meet its fiscal deficit target of 4.1 per cent of  the GDP.
Earlier in the day, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan  responded to criticism of oil firms not cutting despite near 4  per cent fall in global rates since January 1 saying, the  pricing was "not in our hands" as the two fuels have been  deregulated.
"What oil companies feel appropriate they will do," he  said.
Alongside Pradhan, B Ashok, Chairman of Indian Oil Corp,  the nation's largest fuel retailer, justified the decision not  to revise rates saying oil firms were saddled with huge inventory which need to be compensated.
The crude oil that is being processed currently in refineries is one that was bought about 6-8 weeks back when rates were higher than present prices. By the time, it is processed and marketed its market value would have come down, resulting in inventory losses, totalling about Rs 120.00 billion.
"There is huge drop in crude prices which is having a tremendous impact on our inventories, its a cash loss. We are paying much higher price for the crude and today we are processing the crude at a much lower price and passing it. We are taking our decision based on that and we think we have been doing the right thing," Ashok said.
The Finance Ministry notification said the excise duty hike will be effective from midnight tonight.
The government had last raised excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 2 per litre each from January 2. Prior to that, the tax was hiked by Rs 1.50 a litre each from November 12 and Rs 2.25 per litre on petrol and Re 1 on diesel from December 2.
Global crude oil prices have fallen almost 50 per cent since June 2014, the most since the 2008 financial crisis, as supplies swelled.
In April-September, IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) had an inventory loss of Rs 5,300 crore which has risen by "two to three times" since then, an official said.
Petrol and diesel prices were last cut on December 16 by Rs 2 per litre each. This was the eighth straight reduction in petrol prices since August, and fourth in diesel since October.