Petroleum Excise Duty & Cess Used to Provide Free Vaccines, Relief to Poor, Says Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri

The Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri told Lok Sabha on Monday (July 26) that the union government earned INR 3.4 lakh crores from the central excise duty and cess on petroleum products.

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He added that a large part of this money was used for free vaccination drive against Covid-19 in the country and providing relief to poor people through Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana.

Under PM Garib Kalyan Yojana, free ration is being provided to the 80 crore poor people in the country to provide relief from the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The excise duty/cess collected by the central government from petrol is Rs 101598 crore and from diesel is Rs 233296 crore during the financial year 2020-21”, Minister Puri said in written reply in the Lok Sabha.

He added Madhya Pradesh levies the highest state sales tax on petrol and Rajasthan levies the highest state sales tax on diesel.

More than 44 crore doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in the country as of Monday (July 26).