Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday made several announcements including a sharp cut in fuel prices with retail inflation surging to an eight-year high in April.
The retail inflation has been driven by rising prices of fuel and food nationwide. The Union finance minister made the announcements in a series of tweets today.
The key points from the announcements are:
Central excise duty on petrol and diesel have been cut by Rs 8 and Rs 6 per litre, respectively, effectively reducing petrol prices by Rs 9.5 per litre and prices of diesel coming down by Rs 7 per litre.
Rs 1.10 crore fertilizer subsidy was also announced by Sitharaman today which will be in addition to the Rs 1.05 lakh crore in this year’s budget.
Over nine crore beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana will get a subsidy of Rs 200 per gas cylinder which will be directly credited to their bank accounts, meaning effective price for a 14.3 kilograms LPG cylinder in Delhi, which costs Rs 1,003, will now cost Rs 803.
Customs duty on raw materials and intermediaries for plastic products where India is highly dependent on imports, have been reduced.
Sitharaman also announced that import duty on some raw materials of steel will be reduced, while export duty will be levied on some steel products.
