The Centre on Monday raised the windfall tax on domestically produced crude to Rs 4,250/tonne from Rs 1,600 and on export of diesel to Rs 1/litre from nil. The changes will be effective from August 1.
With global crude price hardening, the government had raised the special additional excise duty (SAED) on crude to Rs 1,600/tonne on July 15 after cutting it to nil two months ago.
On July 1, 2022, the Centre imposed SAED of Rs 23,250/tonne on crude and export taxes on petrol, diesel and ATF at Rs 6/litre, Rs 13/litre and Rs 6/litre, respectively, to lay its hands on a chunk of the “windfall profits” reaped by some of the domestic firms due to elevated global prices.
However, it scrapped the duty on petrol in July last year. The tax was made zero on ATF in March and on diesel in April 2023.
The taxes move either way depending on crude prices and the crack spread (refining margin).