Inflation Likely To Come Down As Govt Announces Excise Duty Cut, LPG Subsidy; Petrol, Diesel To Get Cheaper

In a major relief for common man, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced its big decision to cut central excise duty on petrol by Rs 8/litre and on diesel by Rs 6/litre. It will help in bringing down the prices of petrol by as much as Rs 9.5/litre and diesel by Rs 7/litre. The central government decision to cut the excise duty sharply will have revenue consequences of nearly Rs one lakh crore yearly.

The finance minister made yet another key announcement that included giving a subsidy of Rs 200/gas cylinder to more than 9 crore beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna.

She said, "This year the Government will give a subsidy of Rs 200 per gas cylinder (up to 12 cylinders) to over 9 crore beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna. This will help our mothers and sisters. This will have a revenue implication of around Rs 6100 crore a year."

Nirmala Sitharaman took to her social media handle Twitter to announce the decision. The FM said, "keeping in line with the government's 'commitment to help the poor & common man, today, we are announcing more steps to help our people."

The key decisions may help in bringing down the inflation that has broken many records and estimates. India's retail inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) surged to 7.79 percent in the month of April due to rising fuel and food prices, according to the data released by the statistics ministry.

Meanwhile, India's inflation based on Wholesale Price Index (WPI) surged to 15.08% for the month of April from the 14.55% in the March month, according to commerce ministry data released on May 17. WPI Inflation was recorded at 10.74% a year ago in 2021. It also implied that WPI inflation remained in the double-digit zone for nearly 13 months in a row.

After the implementation of today's decision, the prices of petrol will become cheaper. The cost of petrol starting from Sunday will be Rs 95.91/litre and cost of diesel from May 22 will be Rs 89.67. Currently, the price of petrol is Rs 105.41/litre and prices of litre is 96.67.

Today's decision can be termed as government's effort to contain the mounting inflation that has hit the common man in a strong way.

The finance minister said, the government has taken several steps to help the poor and middle class. As a result, the average inflation during our tenure remained lower than during previous governments.