The petrol and diesel prices in the country touched a record high on Monday on the back of a fall in the dollar-rupee and surge in global crude oil rates.

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After the oil marketing companies (OMCs) raised fuel prices across the country, petrol price crossed Rs 88 per litre in Mumbai today, most expensive among all metro cities.

The opposition parties, led by Congress have called a “Bharat bandh” protesting against high fuel prices and accusing the Modi-led government of revising excise duty on petrol and diesel twelve times leading to a sharp spike in their prices.

But how much of the petrol price goes to the government as taxes?

Almost half of the fuel prices is made up of taxes. The central government currently levies a total excise duty of Rs 19.48 per litre of petrol and Rs 15.33 per litre on diesel.

On top of this, states and union territories levy value added tax (VAT), ranging from six percent to as high as 39 percent.

Maharashtra has the highest VAT of 39.12 percent on petrol, Andhra Pradesh levies the highest VAT of 26 percent on diesel.

So for a one-litre petrol in Mumbai at Rs 88.3 per litre, almost 50 percent are the taxes paid to the central and the state government together.

Up to 22 percent goes to the central government, while a larger share of 27.67 percent goes to the state exchequer.

Similarly in Delhi, at Rs 80.73 per litre on Monday, taxes make up 43.18 percent of the price.

Up to 24 percent goes as excise duty to the central government, while 19 percent goes to the state government as the VAT.

Maharashtra also earns the highest amount from the VAT on petroleum products among all other states.

The state earned more than Rs 25,000 crore by levying VAT of petroleum products during 2017-18, according to the released by Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell.

Maharashtra is flowed by Uttar Pradesh (Rs 17,420 crore), Tamil Nadu (Rs 15,507 crore) and Gujarat (Rs 14,852 crore).

On the other hand, the central government earned Rs 2.84 lakh crore by levying taxes on petroleum products.

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has announced a reduction in petrol and diesel price by Rs 2 each in the state, with effect from September 11.

Deduction in petrol and diesel prices in Andhra Pradesh have come a day after Rajasthan government announced a four percent reduction in the VAT on the fuel.

Chief minister of the state, Vasundhara Raje, announced a four percent reduction on Sunday, which will reduce prices by Rs 2.5 per litre in the state.

However, the central government is yet to announce any cut on the excise duty levied on petrol and diesel.

First Published:Sept 10, 2018 5:33 PM IST