On Monday in the Union Budget the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the budget announced a new agriculture cess that will be levied on gold, petrol and diesel. The government say that this new cess is introduced to boost the agricultural infrastructure of the country and the economy.
Focusing on the conservation and agricultural efficiency Ms Sitharaman said there is an immediate need of improvement in the agricultural infrastructure to produce more out of the agriculture.
“This (new cess) will ensure enhanced remuneration for our farmers. To earmark resources for this purpose, I propose an Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) on a small number of items,” Ms Sitharaman announced in the Union Budget.
She also clarified that the new cess will not be burdening the consumers as new cess generally means that the consumers will have to pay more amount for the same item or services.
“While applying this cess, we have taken care not to put additional burden on consumers on most items,” Ms Sitharaman announced.
Why you don’t have to pay more
A new cess is announced in Union Budget 2021 that is Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess which is Rs 2.5 and Rs 4 per litre on petrol and diesel respectively. That means consumers will have to have to pay Rs 2.5 and Rs 4 more on every litre of petrol and diesel they buy.
But additionally the Finance Minister also announced that the government will reduce the Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED) and Basic Excise Duty so, “Overall, there would be no additional burden on the consumer,” said the minister.
So according to the reports now the unbranded petrol and diesel will charge basic Excise Duty of Rs 1.4 on petrol and Rs 1.8 on diesel per litre.
However, the special additional excise duty on unbranded petrol and diesel will be charged Rs 11 and Rs 8 per litre respectively. Similar changes have been made for both branded petrol and diesel, read the report.
“The cess on import of ‘gold and silver’ will be 2.5 per cent, alcoholic beverages (100 per cent), crude palm oil (17.5 per cent), apples (35 per cent), ‘coal, lignite and peat’ (1.5 per cent), fertilizers, including urea (5 per cent), and cotton (5 per cent),” the report further read.
