FICO demands roll back of hike in excise duty, VAT on fuel

The FICO members rued that the prices of crude oil are at an all-time low, but the government rather than passing on the benefit to the residents, has increased the excise duty and VAT

With industry reeling under losses amid the coronavirus lockdown, the Federation of Industrial and Commercial Organisation (FICO) on Saturday demanded that the Union and the state governments should roll back the hike in excise duty and value added tax (VAT) on fuel.

The Union government recently increased the special excise duty by Rs 10 on petrol and Rs 13 on diesel. (REUTERS)

The FICO members rued that the prices of crude oil are at an all-time low, but the government rather than passing on the benefit to the residents, has increased the excise duty and VAT.

FICO president Gurmeet Singh Kular said, “The Union government recently increased the special excise duty by Rs 10 on petrol and Rs 13 on diesel. With this, no benefit of the decreased crude oil prices is being passed on to the public.”

“The state government has also hiked VAT on diesel from 11.80% to 15.15%, while on petrol, it has been increased from 20.11% to 23.3%, resulting into a hike of around Rs 2 in the prices of petrol and diesel,” he said.