"There may be marginal hike in excise duty to offset revenue loss due to lack of demand. Discussions are being held internally," a government official said.
The Centre is considering another excise duty hike on petrol and diesel to offset revenue loss, according to a report in Business Standard.
"There may be marginal hike in excise duty to offset revenue loss due to lack of demand. Discussions are being held internally," a government official told the publication.
The hike might be notified after the nationwide lockdown is lifted and economic activity resumes significantly, the report said.
Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.
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On March 14, the Centre had raised the excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 3 per litre each.
Former finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg on April 16 said the government may see a shortfall of around Rs 10 lakh crore in FY21 due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
"It may be notified once the economic activity restarts more substantially," the official said.
The Indian crude oil basket, weighted average of Dubai, Oman and Brent Crude had fallen to around $16 a barrel on April 21.
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