While prices of petrol and diesel have been cut in recent weeks, the Indian government has hiked the excise duty on petrol and diesel in order to garner more revenue.

As per a notification from the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), basic excise duty on unbranded petrol will be Rs 2.70 a litre as against Rs 1.20 a litre. On branded petrol, the duty now stands at Rs 3.85 a litre from Rs 2.35 a litre.

Apart from a basic rate, there is special additional excise duty and additional excise duty on both types of petrol.

For unbranded diesel, the basic excise duty will be Rs 2.96 a litre as against Rs 1.46, while on branded diesel it will be Rs 5.25 a litre against Rs 3.75 a litre. Though there is no special additional excise duty on both branded and un-branded diesel, there is an additional excise duty apart from basic excise duty.

Prices of diesel were deregulated at the end of October and prices per litre cut by just over Rs 3.