Increase duty on diesel cars up to Rs 2.5 lakh: Jaipal Reddy

New Delhi, June 13: If the government accepts oil minister S Jaipal Reddy's proposal, the price of small diesel cars could soon rise by Rs 1.7 lakh while medium-to-large guzzlers could become costlier by Rs 2.55 lakh a piece.

The proposal to impose additional excise duty on diesel cars is bound to trigger protests from automakers, who have seen sales growing at the slowest pace in seven months in May. Domestic car sales declined 24% in May compared to the year-ago period due to high fuel prices and interest rates.

The proposal drew a thumbs down from analysts and private players, who described it as an excuse to avoid fuel pricing reforms. "From the RBI to C Rangarajan, head of the PM's Economic Advisory Council, everyone has recommended deregulation of fuel prices. If you can't do that for political reasons, at least fix subsidy on diesel and then let the market determine the pump price. Taxing vehicles would serve hardly any purpose," said an industry analyst requesting anonymity.

But Reddy has his arguments for seeking taxing diesel vehicles that are outpacing petrol car sales. In a June 7 letter to finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, the oil minister gave three key reasons for his proposal aimed at arresting a ballooning fuel subsidy bill.

Reddy pointed out that the proposed additional excise duties are equivalent to the minimum benefit that a diesel car owner derives from the fuel's price differential with petrol — at current prices — over a 10-year assumed life of a vehicle. Petrol in Delhi costs Rs 71.16 a litre against Rs 40.91 for diesel.

Reddy's arithmetic goes like this: he first calculates the total distance a vehicle is expected to clock in its 10-year life span, assuming an annual run of 18,000km. Then, he works out the fuel costs by taking a median mileage of 18km to a litre for small cars and 12km for medium/large vehicles. For good measure, he shaves off 10% of the total cost to level.

According to Reddy's calculation, the additional excise duty amounts to asking the diesel car buyer to pay upfront the price differential with petrol that he or she would enjoy later. A petrol car owner, in contrast, shells out every time at the pump.

Reddy also pointed out the adverse impact of increased diesel car sales on the government's earnings. Petrol attracts an excise duty of Rs 14.78 per litre against Rs 2.06 a litre for diesel. So each time a buyer opts for a diesel car instead of petrol and visits a petrol pump, the government loses Rs 12.72 in excise duty on litre of diesel. Together with the Rs 12.53 a litre subsidy on diesel, the actual price differential with petrol at Delhi works out to Rs 25.75 a litre.

To drive home the enormity of the situation arising out of this increasing dieselization, Reddy says diesel consumption rose by 7.6% in 2011-12 against 6.2% in 2010-11. In contrast, growth in petrol consumption fell from 10.7% in 2010-11 to 5.6% in 2011-12.

The Kirit Parikh Committee on fuel pricing reforms had recommended an additional excise duty of Rs 80,000 in February 2010 when duty difference on petrol and diesel was Rs 9.75 a litre and under-recovery on petrol was more at Rs 3.97 a litre than Rs 2 on diesel.