OMCs pay 73% higher excise duty even as crude oil prices decline

If prices of petrol and diesel are burning a hole in your pocket, then blame it on the steep hike in excise duty on transport fuels last year. The country’s top four oil-refining and -marketing companies paid 73 per cent higher excise duty in FY21 than they did the previous fiscal year.

Together, Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, and Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals paid Rs 2.87 trillion in FY21, up from Rs 1.66 trillion in FY20. As a result, excise duty on petroleum products accounted for a quarter of the companies’