No Tax Relief For Common Man: Govt Proposes Rs 2.5/L Agri Cess On Petrol, Rs 4/L On Diesel

In no tax relief for common man, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a new cess on agriculture development – Rs 2.5 per litre on petrol and Rs 4 per litre on diesel. However, there would be no additional burden on the consumer overall as the FM also proposed to reduce Basic Customs Duty on these items.

"I propose an Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) on a small number of items. However, while applying this cess, we have taken care not to put additional burden on consumers on most items," Finance Minister Sitharaman said in her Budget speech.

"Consequently, unbranded petrol and diesel will attract basic excise duty of ₹ 1.4, and ₹ 1.8 per litre respectively. The Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED) on unbranded petrol and diesel shall be ₹ 11 and ₹ 8 per litre respectively. Similar changes have also been made for branded petrol and diesel," she added.