The Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a reduction in fuel prices, saying that the government has decided to reduce taxes on petrol and diesel. The price of petrol has been cut down by Rs 9.5 per litre, and diesel price has been cut down by Rs 7 per litre. Amidst rising energy prices and inflation, the government on Saturday cut excise duty on petrol by a record Rs 8 per litre and that on diesel by Rs 6 per litre to give relief to consumers battering under high fuel prices. Also Read - 6G connectivity to arrive in India by the end of this decade, says PM Modi on TRAI’s 25th anniversary

Reduction of Central Excise Duty on Petrol & Diesel. Central excise duty has been reduced by ₹ 8 per litre for Petrol and by ₹ 6 per litre for Diesel (by reducing Road & Infrastructure Cess). Also Read - India's semiconductor consumption to cross $80 billion by 2026, says PM Modi

Notification no. 02/2022- Central Excise & Notification no. 25/2022 – Customs issued. pic.twitter.com/SzlcJDKdqG Also Read - Crypto regulations will take time, says Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

— CBIC (@cbic_india) May 21, 2022

Petrol price in Delhi will now cost Rs 95.91 a litre as against Rs 105.41 a litre, while diesel will cost Rs 89.67 a litre as opposed to Rs 96.67 now. In Mumbai, one litre of petrol will cost Rs 111.35 and a litre of diesel Rs 97.28. In Chennai, the petrol and diesel prices are Rs 102.65 and Rs 94.24 per litre respectively.

Petrol now costs Rs 106.03 a litre in Kolkata (earlier Rs 115.12) and Rs 102.63 in Chennai (previously Rs 110.85). Diesel is priced at Rs 92.76 a litre in Kolkata (previously Rs 99.83) and Rs 94.24 in Chennai (earlier Rs 100.94).

“Today, the world is passing through difficult times. Even as the world is recovering from Covid-19 pandemic, the Ukraine conflict has brought in supply chain problems and shortages of various goods. This is resulting in inflation & economic distress in a lot of countries,” she said in a series of tweets.

7/12 We are reducing the Central excise duty on Petrol by ₹ 8 per litre and on Diesel by ₹ 6 per litre.
This will reduce the price of petrol by ₹ 9.5 per litre and of Diesel by ₹ 7 per litre.

It will have revenue implication of around ₹ 1 lakh crore/year for the government.

— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) May 21, 2022

The duty cut will have revenue implication of around Rs 1 lakh crore per year for the government.

Sitharaman went on say that despite the challenging international situation, the government has ensured that there are no shortages or scarcity of essential goods. Even a few developed countries couldn’t escape some shortages or disruptions, she added.

The government is committed to ensuring that prices of essential items are kept under control, she said.

In yet another major move, the government has decided that this year it will give a subsidy of Rs 200 per gas cylinder (upto 12 cylinders) to over 9 crore beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana.

“This will help our mothers and sisters. This will have a revenue implication of around Rs 6,100 crore a year.” Further, it is also reducing the customs duty on raw materials and intermediaries for plastic products where the country’s import dependence is high. It will result in reduction of cost of final products. A notification with specific details on all these mention moves will be issued by the Centre within the next hours.