Policy Watch...

In response to a question raised in Lok Sabha in April 2008, the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas (Shri Dinsha Patel) has clarified the contribution of various taxes etc in the final price of Petrol sold in the Delhi.

Basic Price: Rs. 20.16 (45%)
Dealer Commission: Rs. 1.02 (2%)
Custom Duty: Rs. 1.97 (4%)
Excise Duty : Rs. 14.78 (32%)
Sales Tax: Rs. 7.59 (17%)
Retail Selling Price at Delhi: Rs. 45.52

These numbers are, of course, for prices around April of 2008. At this price, oil companies reported under-recoveries of Rs. 9 per liter.

On the other hand, the basic price of diesel is also approximately the same. However, lower excise duty leads to a substantially lower retail price. The numbers for diesel are as follows:


Basic Price: Rs. 20.28 (64%)
Dealer Commission: Rs. 0.60 (2%)
Custom Duty: Rs. 2.36 (7%)
Excise Duty: Rs. 4.74 (15%)
Sales Tax: Rs. 3.78 (12%)
Retail Selling Price at Delhi: Rs. 31.76


Source: Lok Sabha question 4473 asked on April 24, 2008