Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Central government on Saturday (21 May) announced a Rs 8 per litre cut in excise duty on petrol and Rs 6 a litre on diesel to avoid increase in fuel prices that were necessitated due to surge in international oil prices.

With the cut in excise duty on fuel, the prices of petrol and diesel will reduce by Rs 9.5 per litre and Rs 7 per litre.

"We are reducing the Central excise duty on Petrol by ₹ 8 per litre and on Diesel by ₹ 6 per litre. This will reduce the price of petrol by ₹ 9.5 per litre and of Diesel by ₹ 7 per litre," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a tweet on Saturday.

The move will have revenue implication of around Rs 1 lakh crore per year for the government, the minister informed.

Further, Sitharaman urged all states, including those which did not reduce the taxes during the last round of excise duty cuts on fuel by Centre in November last year, to also implement a similar cut to provide relief to the common man.

"I wish to exhort all state governments, especially the states where reduction wasn’t done during the last round (November 2021), to also implement a similar cut and give relief to the common man," the Finance Minister said.

Also, the government will give Rs 200 per cylinder subsidy to Ujjwala Yojana beneficiaries for 12 cylinders in a year to help ease some of the burden arising from rising prices of cooking gas.

The move will benefit over 9 crore beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana.

"This year, we will give a subsidy of ₹ 200 per gas cylinder (upto 12 cylinders) to over 9 crore beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. This will help our mothers and sisters. This will have a revenue implication of around ₹ 6100 crore a year," Sitharaman said.