Petrol dealers‘ body seeks reimbursement of losses post excise duty cut
According to the dealers‘ body, dealers have lost around ₹2,100 crore after duty cut as they had procured the fuel at higher duty and had to sell the fuel at lower prices due to the reduction in excise duty
NEW DELHI : All India Petroleum Dealers Association (AIPDA) has asked the Centre form a mechanism for fuel pumps to clam the losses they incurred after the recent excise duty cut.
According to the dealers‘ body, dealers have lost around ₹2,100 crore after duty cut as they had procured the fuel at higher duty and had to sell the fuel at lower prices due to the reduction in excise duty.
Members of the organisation recently met to officials of the union ministry of petroleum and natural gas and sought for reimbursement of the loss incurred by them, Ajay Bansal, President of AIPDA told reporters here on Friday. He added that AIPDA has asked the petroleum ministry to take up the issue with the ministry of finance.
On 22 May, the Centre reduced te central excise duty on petrol by ₹8 per litre and on diesel by ₹6 a litre. Consequently, the retail price of petrol in Delhi came down to ₹96.72 a litre and diesel to ₹89.62 per litre.
He said that although there were demands for agitation over the losses, the association has decided not to go ahead with any protest or agitation given the assurance from the ministry that it would take address the issue.
The dealers‘ association has also sought increase in their commission, Bansal said have not been revised over the past five years. Bringing petrol and diesel under the ambit of goods and services tax is also among their demands.
“AIPDA also demanded inclusion of petroleum products in GST so that the rates of diesel and petrol can be reduced to ₹75-80 per litre to control inflation and benefit the economy," a statement from the body said.
AIPDA President Ajay Bansal also said that Centre and states should try to increase revenues from other sectors so that they do not have to levy high duties from customers on petrol and diesel.
He also said the government must ensure strict implementation of daily dynamic price revision.
Keeping prices steady for a long duration despite the daily price revision in place renders the price revision policy irrelevant, Bansal said.
The concerns comes as petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged for the fifth consecutive day although crude oil prices continued to remain volatile. Retail fuel prices were last revised on May 22 when they declined owing to the excise duty cut.
At the time of writing the article, the July contract be Brent on the Intercontinental Exchange was trading at $117.61, higher by 0.18% from its previous close.
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