No more duty cuts on petro products
By Our Economy Bureau | 02 Nov 2004
New Delhi: The finance ministry yesterday made it clear that it was not in favour of any more duty cuts on petro products.
The decision of the finance ministry not to implement any more duty cuts will put the petroleum ministry on the backfoot. The petroleum ministry has been pushing for some time for more duty cuts on petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene. Petroleum minister Mani Shanker Aiyar had favoured slashing customs duty on petrol and diesel from 15 per cent to 10 per cent besides exempting kerosene and LPG from excise levy.
Such a move would result in a revenue loss of over Rs 4,000 crore, making it difficult to meet the stiff customs and excise collection targets. According to a senior finance ministry official, ''''The increase in customs collections is not because of oil imports. We got only Rs300 crore additional revenue from it."
