Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman tabled the Union Budget 2021 on Monday making an announcement imposition of Agricultural Infrastructure and Development CESS of Rs 2.5 per litre on petrol and Rs 4 on diesel.
However, Nirmala Sitharaman assured that this change will not affect the end-user which is the common man. Finance Minister said that there would be no additional burden on the consumer overall as she has also proposed to reduce Basic Customs Duty on these items.
"I propose an Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) on a small number of items. However, while applying this cess, we have taken care not to put additional burden on consumers on most items," FM Sitharaman said in her Budget speech.
"Consequent to the imposition of Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) on petrol and diesel, Basic excise duty (BED) and Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED) rates have been reduced on them so that overall consumer does not bear any additional burden," Sitharaman said while presenting the Union Budget 2021.
"Consequently, unbranded petrol and diesel will attract basic excise duty of Rs 1.4, and Rs 1.8 per litre respectively. The SAED on unbranded petrol and diesel shall be Rs 11 and Rs 8 per litre respectively. Similar changes have also been made for branded petrol and diesel," she added.
Notably, the Centre on Monday also imposed the agricultural cess on several other goods, including alcohol (100 per cent), gold and silver bars (2.5 per cent), crude palm oil (17.5 per cent), crude soyabean (20 per cent), apples (35 per cent) and peas (40 per cent).