The government takes away in taxes 57 per cent of the price paid by the consumer for petrol and 33 per cent of retail price of diesel.

The percentage of government taxes on kerosene sold through the public distribution system and liquified petroleum gas comes to a uniform 29 per cent.

This implies that of the total petrol sales revenue of around Rs 27,038 crore (Rs 270.38 billion) during 2002-03, the government pocketed Rs 15,411 crore (Rs 154.11 billion) as taxes. In the case of diesel, the government took away Rs 27,077 crore (Rs 270.77 billion) of the total sale proceeds of Rs 82,054 crore (Rs 820.54 billion).

Though the basic selling price of petrol in Delhi is a mere Rs 13.06 a litre and that of diesel Rs 12.77 a litre, their retail selling prices are Rs 30.30 and Rs 19.08 a litre, respectively.

The difference in the basic and retail prices is on account of a heavy dose of central and state taxes imposed on the two fuels.

Every litre of petrol attracts an excise duty, including additional excise duty, of Rs 10.49, customs duty of Rs 1.61 and state taxes of Rs 5.14, taking the total duties to Rs 17.24.

Total duties on every litre of diesel in Delhi add up to Rs 6.31.

The same is true for PDS kerosene and LPG. While their basic selling prices in Delhi are Rs 6.39 a litre and Rs 171.04 a cylinder, respectively, their retail selling prices in the capital are Rs 8.98 a litre and Rs 241.20 a cylinder.

This implies that the percentage of the central and state taxes of basic price in the two cooking fuels is 40 and 41, respectively.