Excise duty on branded and unbranded petrol and diesel has been increased by Rs 2 per litre. "Govt has decided to increase basic excise duty on petrol & diesel by Rs 2/litre for infrastructure development, especially building15000 km of road," Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan tweeted. The increase in rates will come into effect from midnight.

"However, retail price of petrol & diesel will remain unchanged all over India despite additional excise duty of Rs 2/litre from midnight today," the oil minister said in another tweet.

A fortnightly revision of petrol and diesel prices, which was due, will not happen now due to this increase. A reduction in prices was likely to happen because of fall in crude oil prices globally.

On December 2 last year, the government had increased excise duty on petrol by Rs 2.25 per litre and on diesel by Re 1 per litre.

The unprecedented decline in crude oil prices has come as a blessing for the Narendra Modi government and it is helping the government increase its revenue from the fuel sale. In the past, heavy subsidies on fuel used to be a burden on the government.  (Business Standard)