FM Sitharaman unveils measures to tackle inflation; key announcements

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced a number of measures to tackle inflation in the country. Sitharaman tweeted, “Today, the world is passing through difficult times. Even as the world is recovering from Covid-19 pandemic, the Ukraine conflict has brought in supply chain problems and shortages of various goods. This is resulting in inflation & economic distress in a lot of countries.”

A few key announcements were: The government has reduced the excise duty on petrol by Rs 8 per litre and 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.

In addition to the fertilizer subsidy of over Rs 1 lakh crore, the government will provide Rs 1.1 lakh crore to farmers.

The Centre will give a subsidy of Rs 200 on gas cylinders up to 12 cylinders to 9 crore beneficiaries. Sitharaman said it will have a revenue implication of more than Rs 6000 crore in a year.

Customs duty on raw materials and intermediaries for plastic products will be reduced and the customs duty on raw materials and intermediaries for iron and steel will be adjusted to reduce their prices.

Import duty on some steel raw materials of steel will be reduced and export of some steel raw materials will be increased.

Sitharaman also said that measures were being taken to make cement more available and the cost of cement will be reduced.