Centre hikes windfall tax on domestic crude oil, jet fuel and diesel export

The Centre has increased the Special Additional Excise Duty, commonly known as windfall tax, on domestically produced crude oil and export of aviation turbine fuel and diesel following the recent decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies’ (OPEC+) to cut their oil production. The new rates will be effective October 16.

OPEC+’s move has pulled global prices, showing an average price of over $90 per barrel.

According to the government notification on Saturday, it has hiked tax on domestically produced crude oil to Rs 11,000 per tonne from Rs 8,000 per tonne.

It has also hiked the tax on the export of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) to Rs 3.50 per litre from nil.

Similarly, the windfall tax on the export of diesel has been increased from Rs 5 per litre to Rs 10.50 per litre, taking the total excise duty on the export of diesel to Rs 12 per litre (including Rs1.50 per litre regulated investment company).

The windfall tax is a special tax imposed by a government on a company or industry when it benefits from something but not responsible for the financial gain that ensues is called windfall profits.

On September 17, the government cut the windfall profit tax on domestic crude and diesel, following a decline in international crude prices and also scrapped the levy on the export of jet fuel from October 2.

At the sixth fortnightly review, the government reduced the tax on domestically-produced crude oil to Rs 8,000 per tonne from Rs 10,500 per tonne.

The levy on the export of diesel was reduced to Rs 5 per litre from Rs 10 per litre. The tax at the rate of Rs 5 a litre on jet fuel exports was scrapped on October 2.

On Friday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman warned that the uncertain geopolitical environment could trigger fresh supply concerns in the winter for critical commodities such as crude and natural gas.