Government gets 5.45 lakh crores in 9 months, petrol and diesel prices double after tax

In the first 9 months of the current financial year i.e. between April and December, 5.45 lakh crore rupees have come to the exchequer from the 15 big oil and gas companies of the Indian petroleum sector. Out of this, 3.08 lakh crore rupees came into the treasury of the central government and 2.37 lakh crore rupees into the treasury of the state governments. Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameshwar Teli gave this information in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
Teji said in a written reply to a question that this contribution of the petroleum sector includes Basic Excise Duty, Special Additional Excise Duty, Road and Infrastructure Cess (Upkar), Agriculture and Infrastructure Development Cess and other cesses and surcharges on petroleum products.
Apart from this year's figures, the minister also provided the figures for the last five years to the Rajya Sabha. According to this, in the last financial year, 7.74 lakh crore rupees came to the exchequer from the oil-gas sector. This figure was Rs 6.72 lakh crore in the financial year 2020-21 and Rs 5.55 lakh crore in 2019-20.
The central government is charging an excise duty of Rs 19.90 on the base price of petrol and diesel, which is currently Rs 57.16. After this, the state governments charge VAT and cess on it according to their own, after which their price increases up to 2 times from the base price.
The central government reduced excise duty on petrol by Rs 8 and diesel by Rs 6 per litre in May 2022 to provide relief from high fuel prices. After this decision of the Central Government, states including Maharashtra, Kerala and Rajasthan also cut VAT (Value Added Tax) on petrol and diesel.
Oil prices in the country have been stable for the last about 9 months. Although petrol became cheaper by Rs 5 per litre in Maharashtra and diesel by Rs 3 per litre in July, in other states, the prices remained the same.