Govt hikes taxes on petrol and diesel exports, imposes windfall tax on crude oil

New Delhi: On July 1, the Centre boosted taxes on the export of gasoline, diesel, and aviation turbine fuel (ATF), as well as announcing an additional windfall tax on earnings generated by domestic refineries.

The government imposed a Rs 6 per litre tax on petrol and ATF exports, and a Rs 13 per litre tariff on diesel exports.

According to a separate government statement, it also imposed an extra tax of Rs 23,230 per tonne on locally produced crude oil to offset windfall benefits flowing to producers from high international oil prices.

"In recent months, crude prices have climbed dramatically." Domestic oil producers offer crude to domestic refineries at parity with foreign prices. As a result, domestic crude producers are profiting handsomely," the administration stated. "There will be no negative impact on domestic petroleum product pricing as a result of this cess."

Export-oriented refineries are free from the cess notification requirement for domestic sales. The regulation requires exporters to sell 30% of their diesel output locally first.

Furthermore, small producers whose annual crude production in the previous fiscal year was less than 2 million barrels will be excluded from this cess.

In addition, the government stated that no cess will be placed on the quantity of crude produced by a crude producer that exceeds last year's production.

The tariff on fuel exports comes in response to increased exports of high-speed diesel and petrol.

"As exports become more profitable, it has been observed that certain refiners are drying out their domestic pumps," the government said.