The Centre has raised the windfall export duty on petrol to Rs 2.50 per litre from Rs 0.50.
The duty on diesel exports has been cut to Rs 8.50 per litre from Rs 16.
The changes took effect on October 16, following a government order issued late on October 15.
The duty on aviation turbine fuel stayed at Rs 10.50 per litre.
Domestic pump prices are not directly affected.
The Centre has raised the windfall export duty on petrol to Rs 2.50 per litre and cut it on diesel to Rs 8.50 per litre, effective Friday, October 16, 2026, according to UNI, The Statesman and Northlines.
The petrol duty was Rs 0.50 per litre earlier, a fivefold rise, according to UNI.
The diesel duty was Rs 16 per litre earlier, according to the same report.
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The levies were withdrawn in 2024 and reintroduced in March 2026 after crude oil prices spiked during the US-Israeli war with Iran, according to The Statesman.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.
Jamnagar refinery (file image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
