PM Modi says 'it is always people first for us' after sharp cut in excise duty on fuel

"It is always people first for us," Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted moments after key announcements including a sharp cut in central excise duty, on Saturday. PM Modi highlighted how it will positively impact various sectors, provide relief to India's citizens and further ‘Ease of Living.’

The Prime Minister had embedded the tweet of the Finance Minister, in which Nirmala Sitharaman had spoken elaborately on the number of steps taken by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government to help the poor and middle class. She had explained in the tweet how it had helped in keeping the average inflation during their tenure lower than that of the tenures of the previous governments. 

Centre announces reduction in price of petrol & diesel

In the tweets that followed, Nirmala Sitharaman talked about how the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have brought in supply chain problems and shortages of various goods, leading to inflation and economic distress in a lot of countries. Drawing a sharp contrast with the countries the Finance Minister wrote, "Despite the challenging international situation, we’ve ensured that there are no shortages/scarcity of essential goods. Even a few developed countries couldn’t escape some shortages/disruptions. We are committed to ensuring that the prices of essential items are kept under control." 

Outlining that the Prime Minister has asked all arms of the government to work with sensitivity and give relief to the common man, Sitharaman went on to announce more steps towards it. The Finance Minister announced the reduction of Central excise duty on petrol by Rs 8 per litre and on diesel by Rs 6 per litre. This will reduce the price of petrol by Rs 9.5 per litre and diesel by Rs 7 per litre. It will have a revenue implication of around Rs1 lakh crore/year for the government.

"I wish to exhort all state governments, especially the states where the reduction wasn’t done during the last round (November 2021), to also implement a similar cut and give relief to the common man," the BJP leader wrote. 

Also, a subsidy of Rs 200 per gas cylinder (up to 12 cylinders) to over 9 crore beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana was announced to help the people of the country. Besides, an announcement was made for a reduction on the customs duty on raw materials & intermediaries for plastic products, iron & steel. Also, an announcement was made for the reduction of the cost of cement, by increasing its availability with the use of better logistics.