Planning to buy a Diesel Car? Well, you better hurry, ’cause the Fore-Sighted Ministry of Finance is considering the possibility of raising excise duty on diesel cars.
A Finance Ministry Official Says: “Hiking excise duty on diesel cars is still on the agenda. It was not taken up during the Budget. It will take some time. It will happen”. The Government is providing subsidy over diesel prices keeping in mind that it is the most preferred fuel used commercial transportation. But as the Oil Ministry estimates, almost 15% of the total diesel sold in the country, is being used by luxury cars and SUVs.
An old matter to argue over is: Rich should not get subsidised fuel. The Kirit Parikh Committe on Energy had also suggested a one-time additional excise duty of Rs 80,000 on diesel cars, arguing that it would offset the higher excise duty on petrol. Currently the Government provides a subsidy of Rs. 15.35 for every liter of diesel sold in India. The real situation is like this: While the Petroleum Ministry has been asking for a hike in the excise duty on diesel cars, the Heavy Industries Ministry is opposing the move. The same official also said: “There are two views to the proposal. We are trying to work out a consensus. The Budget has just passed and any changes could take some time”.
Diesel car prices have already been raised by manufacturers seeing this shift of preference of a common buyer towards diesel. In the last 15 months, diesel cars have become dearer by 15-20% considering various additional taxes and increments on ex-showroom prices by manufacturers. Here is a glimpse of the same analysis by us.
By,
Arghya Pan
Team MotorBash
News Source: Economic Times
