Petrol, diesel export duty changed: Will pump prices change?

The Centre revised the export duties on petrol and diesel from October 16.

Petrol export duty is now Rs 2.50 per litre and diesel is Rs 8.50 per litre.

The revision applies to exports only.

Domestic excise duties are unchanged, so pump prices are not directly affected.

Petrol and diesel prices held steady on October 16.

Northlines says the diesel figure includes the special additional excise duty and the road and infrastructure cess.

The duty on aviation turbine fuel stayed at Rs 10.50 per litre, according to Reporters Today.

The changes were issued in a government order late on Thursday, October 15, according to News24.

The previous revision was on October 1, according to Reporters Today, and the duties are reviewed every fortnight, according to The Statesman.

The levies were withdrawn in 2024 and reintroduced in March 2026 after crude oil prices spiked during the US-Israeli war with Iran, according to The Statesman.

The revision covers exports only, and domestic excise duties are unchanged, so it does not directly move pump prices, according to The Statesman.

HDFC Sky reported that petrol and diesel prices held steady on October 16 as the government revised the export duties.

A windfall tax is a levy on unusually high profits that arise from market conditions and not from a company’s own decisions, and in this case it is applied to fuel exports.

An export duty on fuels is meant to encourage refiners to supply the domestic market first and to capture part of the extra earnings from high international prices.

A higher duty on petrol exports makes selling petrol abroad less attractive, while a lower duty on diesel makes diesel exports more attractive than before.

The reports did not give the reasons for the specific changes in the rates.

Reliance Industries and other refiners that export fuel are affected by the duties, but the reports reviewed carried no company response.

Jamnagar refinery (file image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0