The tax rates are reviewed every fortnight based on average oil prices in the previous two weeks.
The government has hiked the windfall profit tax on export of diesel to Re 1 per litre while the levy on domestically produced crude oil has been cut by a fifth.
The levy on crude oil produced by companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has been reduced to Rs 3,500 per tonne from Rs 4,400 per tonne, news agency PTI reported citing the order dated March 20.
The government raised the tax on export of diesel to Re 1 per litre from Rs 0.50, and the same on overseas shipments of ATF remains at nil.
The new tax rates come into effect from March 21, the order said.
Crude oil pumped out of the ground and from below the seabed is refined and converted into fuels like petrol, diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF).
The tax rates are reviewed every fortnight based on average oil prices in the previous two weeks.
India first imposed windfall profit taxes on July 1 last year, joining a growing number of nations that tax super normal profits of energy companies. At that time, export duties of Rs 6 per litre (USD 12 per barrel) each were levied on petrol and ATF and Rs 13 a litre (USD 26 a barrel) on diesel.
A Rs 23,250 per tonne (USD 40 per barrel) windfall profit tax on domestic crude production was also levied.
The export tax on petrol was scrapped in the very first review and that on ATF was done away with at the last review on March 4.
The government levies the Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED), also known as Windfall tax on windfall profits made by oil producers on any price they get above a threshold of USD 75 per barrel.
The levy on fuel exports is based on cracks or margins that refiners earn on overseas shipments. These margins are primarily a difference between the international oil price realised and the cost.
(With agency inputs)
