Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday ruled out any cut in excise duty, for now, to give relief to consumers from the spiralling retail prices of petrol and diesel which have touched all-time highs.
Petrol price crossed the Rs 94-mark in Mumbai and diesel soared to Rs 84.63 per litre on Wednesday. Retail pump rates have not seen a reduction in almost 11 months.
International benchmark rates had plunged to decade lows in April. The government had hiked excise duty on petrol by a record Rs 13 per litre and on diesel by Rs 16 a litre to mop up gains arising from the fall in rates but did not cut taxes when oil prices bounced back.