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Cess to bail out oil firms?

New Delhi: A cess or surcharge on income tax and corporate tax may be levied to bail out oil firms reeling under high global prices as the Petroleum Ministry’s proposal to raise petrol price by Rs. 10 a litre, diesel by Rs. 5 a litre and that of LPG by Rs. 50 a cylinder finds few takers.

The new proposal follows Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s reluctance to cut duties on crude oil and petroleum products unless alternative source of revenues are identified.

Petroleum Minister Murli Deora met Mr. Chidambaram on Tuesday but failed to convince him of the urgency to cut import and excise duties to avoid the Rs. 2,00,000-crore revenue loss expected on petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene this fiscal.

The Bharat Petroleum Corporation and the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation have cash to buy crude oil only till July while the Indian Oil Corporation can finance imports till September. — PTI

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