No reduction in fuel prices soon; govt says no to reduction of excise duty

The Central Government has clearly refused to reduce the price of petrol and diesel despite the fuel prices reaching all time high. The government said that it is not possible to cut the excise duty immediately after the increase in the price of petrol in international markets. Due to this, there will be no reduction of petrol and diesel prices right now. It is noteworthy that while diesel prices have reached the highest level of the past few years due to the rise in oil prices in global markets, petrol is getting the most expensive since the last four years. The central government has increased the excise duty nine times between November 2014 and January 2016 with the intention of increasing revenue during the fall in prices in the global market.
However, in October last year, the price was cut by two rupees per liter. Asked whether the excise duty cut can be made for the second time, Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said that there is no possibility of it at this time. We will be informed about this whenever we will review it. Significantly, before this, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that the government is keeping an eye on international prices of petrol but will not be withdrawn from the free market price fixation system.