New Delhi: The ministry of finance has lowered the export duty on diesel to ₹23 per litre and that on jet fuel to ₹33 per litre with effect from Friday, 1 May.
For the past two weeks, the duty on export of diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) was at ₹55.5 per litre and ₹42 a litre. The ministry had doubled the duties on 11 April.
Export levies—Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED) and Road and Infrastructure Cess (RIC)—on the exports of petrol, diesel and ATF were introduced with effect from 27 March so as to ensure domestic availability of petroleum products by disincentivizing exports in the backdrop of the West Asia crises.
There is, however, no duty on petrol exports.
The rates are revised every fortnight based on the average international prices of crude oil, petrol, diesel and ATF during the period since the last review.
In the past two weeks, benchmark Brent crude witnessed high volatility amid the continued blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and traversed between $90 per barrel to a four-year high $126 a barrel. It hit a four-year high on Thursday.
When the government had imposed windfall levies on 27 March, with export duty on diesel at ₹21.5 a litre and on ATF at ₹29.5 a litre, it had estimated revenue collection of about ₹1,500 crore in two weeks. These “windfall” levies were first imposed in 2022 during the peak of the Russia-Ukraine war and were withdrawn in 2024.
With the fourth-largest refining capacity of 258 million tonnes in the world, India is also witnessing a record growth in terms of domestic petroleum product consumption. In fiscal year 2026, India’s petroleum product consumption touched a high of 243 million tonnes.
