Data | As petrol prices cross ₹90 per litre, new cess could deepen Centre's coffers

Following Mumbai, petrol prices in Chennai breached the ₹90/litre mark in February. Delhi and Kolkata are about a rupee short of the mark. Heavy taxation on crude oil combined with a significant uptick in international crude prices are responsible for this recent price rise. While the recently introduced Agriculture Infrastructure and Development cess on crude oil will not burden the customers, the money collected will not be shared with States as they are excluded from the purview of the divisible pool of taxes. Importantly, not a single rupee of the cess collected on crude oil in the past ten years was used for the intended purposes.