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Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Petrol Costs More Than Aviation Fuel in India

For the first time, petrol in India costs more than the superior Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) or jet fuel used in airplanes, as the government has levied a record excise duty on the fuel used in two-wheelers and cars.

Traditionally, petrol, being of lesser quality than ATF, would cost less. But four consecutive excise duty hikes in three months have reversed this

Petrol in April 2002 was priced at Rs 26.54 a litre while diesel cost was Rs 16.59 per litre
Excise duty on petrol was Rs 10.53 per litre in April 2002 when the fuel was first deregulated or freed. This rose to Rs 14.59 by May 2005 by when government control was back in place
Excise duty on petrol touched its peak of Rs 14.78 in March 2008 before it was slashed to Rs 9.48 in 2012

Petrol was again deregulated in June 2010 and since then, retail rates have more or less moved in tandem with international trends. Since August, the retail rates have been on the decline as global oil prices slumped to multi-year lows.

In 9 cuts, petrol price has been reduced by a cumulative Rs 14.69 per litre. This reduction would have been higher but for the excise duty hikes - first by Rs 1.50 on November 12, then by Rs 2.25 on December 2, and Rs 2 each on January 2 and January 16,2015

The excise duty is made up of basic duty of Rs 8.95, special excise duty of Rs 6 and additional excise duty of Rs 2 per litre.




A litre of petrol in Delhi costs Rs 58.91 per litre. On the other hand, ATF, which has a higher octane than petrol and is a heavier fraction in the distillation process, is priced at Rs 52.42 a litre

 Diesel
  • Excise duty was Rs 2.85 a litre in April 2002, which rose to Rs 4.74 in March 2008 before dipping to Rs 2.06. It now stands at Rs 9.96 per litre - the highest ever.
  • Deregulated in October and has seen five retail price cuts totalling Rs 10.71 a litre. These cuts would have been higher but for the excise duty hikes - Rs 1.50 on November 12, Rs 1 on December 2 and Rs 2 each on January 2 and January 16,2015
  • Diesel currently costs Rs 48.26 - the lowest since April 2013

Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) 
  • There are no imports of ATF and it is freely priced petroleum product in India
  • The price of dometically produced ATF is based on import parity price factoring in the basic customs duty
  • There is continued monopoly of the 3 Stated Owned Cos - IOC,HP and BPCL which revises ATF prices every fortnight based on t rends in international markets
  • ATF attracts an excise duty of 8 %

 

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