The government has cut the windfall tax on domestically produced crude by 36 per cent to Rs 4,100 per tonne effective Tuesday, with the fall in crude prices.
The levy on crude oil produced by companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation would be impacted by the revision in the special additional excise duty.
The levy on crude was hiked to Rs 6,400 per tonne on April 19. Diesel, petrol and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) continue to remain exempted from the levy.
The move is positive for oil companies as they will now have to pay lower tax on the sale of crude oil in the market.
Russian oil
The European nations that banned Russian oil are importing huge amounts of oil products from India, China, the UAE, Singapore and Turkey, qualifying them as “laundromats”, a report by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) has said.
The report — Laundromat: How the price cap coalition whitewashes Russian oil in third countries — reveals that western countries bought $42 billion worth of laundered Russian crude in the form of various oil products from nations that are friendly towards Russia.
The EU, most of G7 and Australia have banned or limited imports of Russian crude oil and oil products, leading to a significant fall in Russia’s oil prices and export revenues.
However, the price cap coalition countries have increased imports of refined oil products from countries that have become the largest importers of Russian crude, a major loophole.
Import of refined oil products from China to the price-cap coalition countries has increased 3.6 million tonnes (mt) or 94 per cent in one year.
Import from India rose 0.3mt or 2 per cent); Turkey 1.8mt or 43 per cent; the UAE 2.6mt or 23 per cent; and Singapore 1.8mt or 33 per cent.
Price cap coalition countries’ imports from the five countries rose 10mt or 26 per cent. In value, it rose euro 18.7 billlion or 80 per cent.
India’s diesel exports tripled to 1.6 million barrels per day in March compared with a year ago, making it one of the largest components of India-EU trade.
