Thiruvananthapuram: With the Centre slashing the excise duty on petrol and diesel, the state's sales tax on the fuel also decreased correspondingly.
The excise duty cut will translate into a reduction of Rs 9.48 a litre on petrol in Kochi and Rs 7.42 per litre on diesel after taking into account its impact on other levies. Petrol in the Kochi now costs Rs 105.72 a litre as against Rs 115.20 previously. Diesel is now priced at Rs 94.66 per litre as opposed to Rs 102.08 earlier.
The government on Saturday announced a record Rs 8 per litre cut in excise duty on petrol and Rs 6 per litre reduction on diesel.
Earlier, Kerala Finance Minister K N Balagopal had welcomed the Centre's decision to cut the excise tax on the fuel price after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a reduction in central excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 8 and Rs 6 per litres respectively.
In a Facebook post, Balagopal said the state government welcomes the Centre's decision to bring a partial reduction in fuel tax, which had increased astronomically.