Minister urges states to reduce fuel taxes

To help cushion the impact of the auto fuel price hike announced by the central government in June, India’s Petroleum Minister Murli Deora has appealed to state governments to lower the sales taxes for gasoline and diesel fuel. The retail price of gasoline went up by Rs4 (US$0.08) per liter and for diesel fuel by Rs2 (US$0.04) per liter. “When the price of the Indian basket of crude oil fell from its highest level of US$142 per barrel in June 2008 to US$40 per barrel in December 2008, the government responded by reducing the price of petrol by Rs10 (US$0.21) a liter and the price of diesel by Rs4 (US$0.08) a liter in two stages within a space of two months,” Deora said. Afterwards, the international price of crude oil rose to about US$70 in July. (July 3, 2009)