Cars, SUVs consume 16 per cent of subsidised diesel, says government

Cars and SUVs account for 15.88 per cent of subsidised diesel sold in India while diesel power generators account for another 4.60 per cent and mobile towers another 1.93 per cent, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas R P N Singh informed the Lok Sabha today.

This, he said, has prompted the ministry of petroleum and natural gas to propose levy of an additional excise duty on diesel cars, he stated in response to a question.

He said the ministry has commissioned an all-India study on sectoral demand of diesel and petrol by the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) in association with the public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs).

As per the initial results available for the first round of field survey of the study (based on 2011-12 diesel consumption), diesel consumption share in gensets/mobile towers and passenger vehicles (includes cars & SUVs etc.) has totaled 22.41 per cent of total sales, he said.

He emphasised that in view of the uniform pricing of diesel (HSD) except for local levies, subsidy on diesel is available to all sectors of consumption.

Subsequently, the ministry has also written to the finance ministry for levying additional excise duty on diesel cars, gensets and mobile towers, he said.