Govt gets tax-rich from oil sector, consumers bear brunt
Government is all set to walk away with the highest level of excise duty collection from the petroleum sector this year, even as fuel consumers continue to face persistent increase in petrol and diesel prices that has taken the retail prices to historic high levels across the country.
In the nine month period of current fiscal ending December 31, 2020, Centre’s excise duty collections from the petroleum sector has already touched Rs 2,35,811 crore-mark, much more than what it got in the full financial year 2019-20. At this pace, collections may well cross Rs 3 lakh crore for the very first time in FY21.
Last fiscal, the Centre received Rs 2,23,057 crore as excise revenue from the petroleum sector. The numbers were even lower at Rs 2,14,369 crore in FY19. Only in FY17, excise collections remained firm at Rs 2,42,691 crore when the government raised excise duty taking advantage of low crude prices.
Higher collections as taxes have come at a time when consumers are facing the brunt of rising fuel prices with sharp increase in retail price of petrol and all through 2021.
