Shashi Tharoor | Photo: PTI
Thiruvananthapuram: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday took to Twitter to reveal the story of the ‘Great Indian Loot’ slamming the Modi government over the fuel price hike.
Posting a table of statistics of the petrol price now and what it could have been, Tharoor said, “An interesting chart details the Great Indian Loot going on through fuel price increases. Govt had raised Excise Duty almost 11 times, and now, AIDC too! If Govt imposed the tax rate of 2014, or included Petroleum products in GST, look at what people would have to pay for petrol!”
If the tax levied on petrol, during the tenure of the previous UPA government, was the same now, then the petrol price would have been Rs 44 per litre. If the petroleum products are included in GST, the price would further fall to Rs 37 per litre, explained Tharoor.
In 2014, the tax levied was only 50 percent of the base price of petrol. But in February 2021, this has skyrocketed to 200 percent, he pointed out.
In the past 7 years, the price of crude oil decreased by 52 percent. In 2014, a barrel cost $105 in international market. Then the petrol base price was Rs 48 per litre. The tax was Rs 24. In total, the retail price of petrol was Rs 72 per litre in India.
But in 2021 February, crude oil is priced at 50$ per barrel in international market. The base price of petrol is Rs 29 per litre. The tax is levied as Rs 58 and the retail price touched Rs 87 per litre.
The tax which was only 20 percent in 2014 increased to 200 percent in 2021. If the tax rate was as that in 2014, the price of petrol would have dipped to Rs 44 per litre, the table explained.
Tharoor also criticised the move of the Centre to introduce agri-infra cess announced in the new budget even after increasing the Excise Duty on petroleum products by 11 times.
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