CM: Only Centre can ensure affordable petro products

Thiruvananthapuram: Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the assembly on Wednesday that the price of petroleum products wouldn’t be affordable, unless the Union government stops the practice of increasing the excise duty when the price of the same goes down in the international market. The state government could do little to make any tangible change in the prices, he said.
Replying to a calling attention motion by MLA C H Kunjambu, Vijayan said the benefits of the petroleum price rise mainly goes to the Union government. “As per details released by the central government in February 2021, of the Rs 67 excise duty on petroleum products, the Centre needs to share only Rs 4 as basic duty with states,” he said.
A look at the last six years of Centre’s accounts show that central tax on petroleum products has increased by 307%. The prices of petroleum products increased 19 times, so far, in 2021. “There are four components in the central excise duty on petroleum products. They are basic excise duty, special additional excise duty, agriculture infrastructure development cess and road infrastructure development cess. None except the basic duty is shared with the states. In this background, the central government’s claim that states should cut the taxes on petroleum products to make it more affordable appears strange,” he said.
Contrary to the claims made by the central government in 2010 and 2014, the benefits of the fall in petroleum prices in the international market is not transferred to domestic consumers, he said. “Since Centre keeps on increasing the excise duty to offset the benefit of price fall in the international market, the price always remains high,” he said.