On Wednesday, the government reduced the windfall tax — a higher tax rate levied on sudden large profits levied on a specific company or industry — on crude, aviation turbine fuel (ATF), gasoline, and diesel exports.
The windfall tax on crude oil has been reduced from Rs 23,250 per tonne to Rs 17,000 per tonne. The diesel export duty was reduced from Rs 13/litre to Rs 10/litre and from Rs 6/litre to Rs 4/litre. The petrol export duty was completely eliminated.
The new rates will go into effect on Wednesday, July 20.
The Central Government stated in the notification that “on being satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest to do so, hereby exempts the excisable goods when exported from units located in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ).”
The government had earlier on July 1 imposed a Rs 6 per litre tax on the export of petrol and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and a Rs 13 per litre tax on the export of diesel. Additionally, it levied a Rs 23,250 per tonne additional tax on crude oil produced domestically.
The export tax was imposed after oil refiners made profits exporting fuel to deficit regions such as Europe in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Some media reports suggested that few oil companies processed Russian crude oil available at a discount after the ban by West.