Central excise duty on fuel cut; subsidy of ₹200 per gas cylinder: Key announcements made by FM Sitharaman

NEW DELHI: The Union government has decided to cut central excise duty on petrol and diesel, and will also provide a subsidy for gas cylinders, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Saturday amid surging inflation.
"The government is devoted to the welfare of the poor and we have taken a number of steps to help the poor and middle class. As a result, the average inflation during our tenure has remained lower than during previous governments," the FM said while announcing the cuts.

Here are the key announcements:
1. We are reducing the Central excise duty on Petrol by ₹8 per litre and on Diesel by ₹6 per litre. This will reduce the price of petrol by ₹ 9.5 per litre and of Diesel by ₹ 7 per litre. It will have revenue implication of around ₹ 1 lakh crore/year for the government.

The FM exhorted all state governments, "especially the states where reduction wasn’t done during the last round (November 2021)", to also implement a similar cut and "give relief to the common man".

2. We will give a subsidy of ₹ 200 per gas cylinder (upto 12 cylinders) to over 9 crore beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. "This will help our mothers and sisters. This will have a revenue implication of around ₹ 6100 crore a year," the FM said.

3. We are also reducing the customs duty on raw materials and intermediaries for plastic products where our import dependence is high. This will result in reduction of cost of final products.

4. Similarly, we are calibrating customs duty on raw materials and intermediaries for iron and steel to reduce their prices. Import duty on some raw materials of steel will be reduced. Export duty on some steel products will be levied.
5. Measures are being taken up to improve the availability of cement and through better logistics to reduce the cost of cement.