Punjab government increases VAT on petrol, diesel; rate to go up by Rs 2 per litre

The Punjab government led by Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday night increased the value-added tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel thus leading to price hike amid Coronavirus lockdown. While VAT on diesel has been increased from 11.80 per cent to 15.15 per cent, on petrol it has gone up from 20.11 per cent to 23.30 per cent.

Therefore, the retail rate of petrol will increase from Rs 70.38 a litre to 72.43 a litre, while the rate of diesel will go up from Rs 62.02 a litre to Rs 64.06 a litre. Moreover, the prices in entire Punjab will be costlier than that of UT Chandigarh as the present price of petrol and diesel in UT Chandigarh is Rs 65.82 and Rs 59.30 a litre respectively.

READ: Telangana government announces extension of lockdown in state till May 29

Other states imposed VAT

On Tuesday, the Delhi government increased VAT on petrol and diesel resulting in the rise in the price of the two fuels. While the petrol price has increased by ₹1.67 per litre, the price of diesel has increased by ₹7.10 a litre. Before the hike, the petrol prices in Delhi was ₹69.59 per litre while diesel rates were ₹62.29. Basically, the Arvind Kejriwal led government has increased VAT on petrol to 30% from 27% while VAT on diesel has been almost doubled to 30% from 16.75%.

READ: MHA issues SOP for evacuation of Indian nationals stranded abroad, priority to distressed

Other state governments have also increased the VAT on fuels claiming massive revenue losses during the coronavirus lockdown in the country which has now been extended to May 17. While Haryana government recently hiked tax by ₹1 per litre on petrol and ₹1.1 per litre on diesel, Tamil Nadu government hiked VAT by ₹3.25 per litre for petrol and that of diesel by ₹2.50 per litre.

READ: Coronavirus Live Updates

India's lockdown extended

Last week, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a notification extending the nationwide lockdown by 2 weeks till May 17. On Tuesday, the Telangana government announces extension of lockdown till May 29. While India has announced considerable relaxations in the Lockdown 3.0, it has also divided the states and the districts into Red, Green and Orange zones classified based on total active cases, doubling rate, the extent of testing and surveillance. Currently, as per Centre, there are 130 districts red zone districts, 284 orange zone districts, 319 green zone districts. India has till May 6 reported 46711 cases with 1583 deaths, 13160 cured/discharged/migrated.

READ: Lockdown relaxations evoke tepid response in Bengal; liquor shops see huge crowd