Fuel excise duty cut: Chidambaram says politics at the petrol pump, invokes bypoll results

Excise duty is nothing but politics at the pump and a result of the recent by-polls as per ex-finance minister P Chidambaram.

The former Union minister also said the government’s move was a confirmation of the Congress’ charge that fuel prices were high mainly because of high taxes.

“And our charge that high fuel taxes is because of the greed of the central government,” he further wrote.

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On the eve of Diwali, The Centre decided to cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by record amounts of ₹5 and ₹10, respectively, per litre, to bring down their rates from the highest-ever record levels.

To the put the price cut in perspective-:

• Petrol prices  are up by ₹30 since 2020 Diwali.
• Petrol prices saw a hike on 27 of the previous 34 day
• Between March 2020 and May 2020, Excise duty was raised by ₹13
• Even with the cut the Excise duty is up ₹ 8 vs 2019 and is at Rs 27.9 per litre on petrol
• The central excise duty on petrol in 2014 was ₹ 9.48 per litre, it has been up 3 times since then