Budget 2022: Diesel to cost Rs 2 more per liter from October 1

New Delhi : After Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's budget speech, diesel may cost Rs 2 more in most part of the nation from October 1 and petrol prices may also see a hike. FM has added an extra excise duty on fuel sold without blending it with ethanol or biodiesel.

To cut down oil imports, the companies currently blend 10% of ethanol extracted from sugarcanes to the 90% petrol.

Ethanol-blended petrol is supplied in 75-80 per cent of the country as availability of ethanol and logistics hamper supply in remaining areas.

However, such is not a case with diesel. Only limited experimental blending of biodiesel is done currently.

"Blending of fuel is a priority of this Government. To encourage the efforts for blending of fuel, unblended fuel shall attract an additional differential excise duty of Rs 2 per litre from the 1st day of October 2022," Sitharaman said in her Budget speech in the Lok Sabha.

With this, the budget proposal will end up increasing fuel prices in the regions where blended fuel is not available. Presently, parts of North East and Jammu & Kashmir and some far-flung areas in the South as well as in Rajasthan do not have a supply of ethanol-blended petrol.