India has raised the export duty on petrol while cutting the equivalent charge on diesel, resetting the two levies from 16 October. The new schedule lifts the petrol rate from Rs 0.50 to Rs 2.50 per litre and lowers diesel from Rs 16 to Rs 8.50 per litre. The charge on aviation turbine fuel, or ATF, remains Rs 10.50 per litre.
The changes are part of the special additional excise duty applied to specified petroleum-product exports. They are rates per litre, rather than percentages of a cargo’s value. That distinction matters when comparing the direction and size of the changes: petrol’s levy is five times its previous level, while diesel’s is lower by Rs 7.50 for every litre exported.
Export schedule, not a pump-price change
The revised figures apply to consignments sent overseas. They do not alter the existing central excise-duty rates on petrol and diesel cleared for domestic consumption. A change in this export schedule should therefore not be read as a direct change to the tax charged on fuel supplied to Indian motorists, businesses or airlines inside the country.
The official table sets out separate effective dates for the export rates. On 1 October, the total levy on petrol was Rs 0.50 per litre, diesel was Rs 16 and ATF was Rs 10.50. The 16 October entry changes only the first two products: petrol becomes Rs 2.50 and diesel Rs 8.50, with ATF unchanged at Rs 10.50.
For petrol exporters, the numerical increase is Rs 2 per litre against the previous schedule. Applied purely as a duty calculation, a one-million-litre shipment would face Rs 2 million more in this component than it would have under the 1 October rate. That is not a measure of an exporter’s total cost or margin, which also depends on prices, freight, contracts and other charges.
The diesel adjustment runs in the other direction. The new Rs 8.50 rate is Rs 7.50 below the preceding Rs 16 charge, a reduction of 46.875%. On the same one-million-litre illustration, the duty component would be Rs 7.5 million lower than under the earlier schedule. Keeping the litre-based comparison separate from commercial outcomes avoids treating the tax change as a prediction of exporters’ profits or of international fuel prices.
A fortnightly review cycle
These export rates are reviewed on a fortnightly basis, with the previous revision taking effect at the start of October. The latest decision does not move all products in the same direction: it raises the petrol charge, cuts diesel and leaves ATF in place. That makes it a targeted revision within the existing framework rather than a single across-the-board increase or reduction for refined fuels.
The schedule records a special additional excise duty and, where applicable, an additional excise-duty column. For the three export products in the latest entry, the published total matches the stated rate because no additional amount is shown alongside the petrol or diesel figures. The table also identifies the values as rupees per litre, so the petrol and diesel movements should not be converted into rupees per tonne or confused with charges on crude-oil production.
What the revision means for the coming period
For companies arranging export cargoes, the relevant comparison is now the 16 October schedule rather than the one that began on 1 October. Petrol exports carry a higher fixed levy per litre; diesel exports carry a lower one; and ATF exports retain the same Rs 10.50 rate. The available order reporting does not set out a separate product-specific explanation for the opposite moves in petrol and diesel.
