The new rate is based on a basic price of petrol, without including any taxes, refining cost or margin, of Rs 41.38 per litre, oil company officials said.

The retail selling price is calculated by adding customs duty, central excise rates and VAT to the basic price which is nothing by the average of international oil rate.

On Rs 41.38 a litre base price, a customs duty of 2.5 per cent or Rs 1.04 per litre is levied.

Beyond this, the central government levies Rs 6.35 per litre basic cenvat duty, Rs 6 per litre special additional excise duty and Rs 2 per litre additional excise duty towards highway cess. The excise duty after including education cess at the rate of 3 per cent, totals up to Rs 14.78 per litre.

The central taxes do not increase when the base rate is raised because these are fixed rates.

However, VAT, which in Delhi is at 20 per cent, rises with every increase. Earlier, VAT on petrol was Rs 10.62 per litre, but after the hike, it totals to Rs 11.44 a litre.

In the case of diesel, the total taxes account for only Rs 7.66 of the retail price of Rs 41.29 in Delhi. The taxes include Rs 0.76 in customs duty, Rs 2.06 in excise duty and Rs 4.84 state VAT.

There is no central excise duty on diesel apart from the Rs 2 per litre cess for highway construction. Custom duty is 2.5 per cent.

Source: Economic Times, India,  dated 08/11/2011