The Centre Government announced today a Rs 10 per litre cut in central excise duty on petrol and diesel for domestic consumption, bringing back the demand for reduction of VAT levied by State Government on top of the Centre Excise Duty.
Every time an auto-driver in Vijayawada fills his tank, he pays a tax that makes Andhra Pradesh the most expensive state in India to fuel a vehicle. Petrol and Diesel rates in Andhra Pradesh remain higher than those in our neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
An auto driver who consumes about 5 litres per day in Andhra Pradesh spends approximately ₹1,023 more per month compared to Karnataka and ₹1,276 more compared to Tamil Nadu due to higher fuel costs.
Andhra Pradesh’s fuel tax crisis began in 2014 when Chandrababu Naidu took charge of a state freshly bifurcated .At its peak during 2017 Andhra Pradesh was already levying VAT of 38.93% on petrol. Nearly half the retail price of every litre was composed of taxes.
During Naidu’s first five-year term from 2014 to 2019, the state collected an additional ₹20,000 crore in fuel taxes. Twenty thousand crores came from every person who needed to fill a vehicle to go to work, take their child to school, or carry their produce to market.
Promises Made, Relief Denied:
But during the campaign in 2023 then TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh has promised to cut down the petrol and diesel prices once TDP comes into power in Andhra Pradesh but now coming after back to power, that promise was broken.
Recent data tabled in the Rajya Sabha shows Andhra Pradesh, ruled by the NDA, charges the highest VAT on petrol–Rs 29.06 per litre–on top of the central excise duty of Rs 21.90 per litre. At the other end of the spectrum, the Andaman & Nicobar Islands charge a negligible Rs 0.82 per litre as VAT, keeping prices far lower.
TDP came to power in 2024, promising a cut of ₹17 per litre. Today, an AP citizen pays ₹8.51 more than someone in Chennai and ₹6.82 more than someone in Bengaluru for every litre of petrol with not a single rupee of VAT reduction delivered since that promise was made.It is the moral responsibility of State Government to take cut on State levied VAT and ease the burden on people.
