India Hikes Excise Duty on Fuels as Oil Prices Plummet

By Charles Kennedy – Apr 07, 2025, 10:00 AM CDT

• India has raised the excise duty on gasoline and diesel.

• Retail prices for consumers will not increase due to this hike.

• Oil marketing companies will absorb the increased duty, offsetting potential price drops from lower international oil prices.

India is raising the excise duty on gasoline and diesel effective April 8, the government said on Monday, but noted that the increase in the excise duty would not be felt at the pump.

The rise in the excise duty will not raise retail gasoline and diesel prices as it would be borne by oil marketing companies and would be adjusted against the price cut that was warranted because of falling international oil prices.

India has regularly raised the excise duty on fuels when international oil prices drop significantly.

Since the middle of last week, when U.S. President shocked the world with tariffs for nearly everyone, and at higher rates than expected, oil prices have crashed by about $10 per barrel and sank to their lowest levels in four years.

The last time WTI Crude was struggling to hang on to the $60 per barrel handle was in April 2021. Brent Crude prices, for their part, have dropped to below $65 a barrel as investment banks and market analysts raise the odds of a recession, which is set to stifle oil demand. The decision by the OPEC+ group to add triple the expected volume to its May production increase also crushed oil prices amid fears that supply would be high while demand could materially weaken in a recession.

In this context, the Indian Department of Revenue raised the excise duty, but the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas hastened to reassure consumers that the excise duty hikes wouldn’t translate into higher prices at the pump in the country.

Despite the recent hike in the Excise Duty, India’s Public Sector Undertakings (PSU) oil marketing companies have confirmed there will be no increase in retail prices of gasoline and diesel, the Oil Ministry said.

“Fuel costs remain unchanged,” the ministry added on the social media platform X.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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