With effect from May 16, India has lowered the windfall tax on petroleum crude from 8,400 rupees per metric ton to 5,700 rupees.

According to a government notification issued on May 15, the tax, which is adjusted every two weeks remains unchanged, at still zero for diesel and aviation turbine fuel.

This action follows the government’s April 16 increase in the windfall tax to Rs 9,600 per tonne of petroleum crude and May 1 reduction to Rs 8,400 per tonne.

The windfall tax, which went into effect in July 2022, is a tax on unanticipated or unusually large gains made by the petroleum industry. It was started to control private refiners that were purportedly taking advantage of strong refining margins by favoring export sales over local distribution.
India became one of the increasing number of countries that tax the abnormal earnings of energy corporations on July 1st of last year when it first implemented this tax.