Better late than never, heaving a sigh of relief fuel consumers of Delhi got a present from CM Kejriwal on the first day of December as the state govt decided to finally cut VAT on petrol by Rs 8/litre.
This reduction though a relief has been long awaited since the excise cut by the central govt. The downward revision on taxes however is still short compared to the Rs 12 cut done by neighbours Haryana & Uttar Pradesh.
The Centre had announced a reduction of Rs 5 per litre in the excise duty on petrol and a Rs 10 per litre on diesel in the first week of November, after fuel prices touched a record high. Since then, opposition parties in Delhi have been urging the state government to cut VAT on petrol at their end as well.
Even the Delhi Petrol dealers association had written a letter to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asking to cut taxes as fuel in Delhi had become expensive by more than ₹9 in petrol than neighbouring states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
Since 2014, the VAT on fuel has increased six times in the national capital. The last time, Delhi government hiked the VAT was on July 31, 2020 on both the fuel products.