CSE proposes an additional tax of Rs 1.62 lakh on 1400cc diesel cars

Planning to buy a new diesel car? Then this could be the best time to buy as the diesel car prices are likely to go up from the next budget session. The Center for Science and Evironment (CSE) has appealed to governemnt to increase the tax on diesel cars powered by the 1400 cc and up by Rs 1.62 lakh while the lower capacity engines under 1400 cc with a Rs 81,000 price hike. This is not the first time a body has made an appeal to the government to up the diesel car tax or the prices for that matter as not very long back did Kirit Park committee also requested to increase the taxes on the diesel cars by Rs 1 lakh. This tax revision is basically to overcome the subsidised diesel price, the government offers mainly for the agricultural and commercial purposes of which the diesel car users are taking an inappropriate advantage.

There are a couple of points raised by the CSE which strongly contradicts the SIAM report that the diesel cars in India consume 0.6 % of the overall diesel consumption shared by the generators and railways. CSE claims higher diesel consumption in the car segment utilised by even the luxury and the super luxury cars which is not the targetted segment. However, the CSE's perspective is from another angle. The body which is mainly concerned with the environmental pollution points out that the 40% of the new cars sold are diesel cars and out of the total diesel car sales, 40% are from the 1500 cc and higher capacity engines which means even more pollution. The nitrogen oxides emission dominates the overall emissions only present in the diesel cars.

Another three to four months down the line we could see another price revision if the government gives an approving nod after a recent rise in the Maruti cars price and the Toyota cars for that matter. Maruti India had only upped the diesel car prices recently on Maruti Swift, Maruti Ritz, Maruti SX4 and Maruti Swift Dzire which are all the diesel cars from MSI, could mean we might be seeing a Rs 81,000 additional tax to drive the price of cars up, while almost all the SUVs today right from the Mahindra XUV 500, Force One SUV to the high-end models like Toyota Fortuner, Ford Endeavour are powered by 2.0L-3.0L diesel powertrains. Looks like, the budget session is going to be a turning point for many car manufacturers and cars in India.