The Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, has issued a fresh set of Central Excise notifications revising the duty framework applicable to specified petroleum products cleared for export.
The Government has modified the rates of Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED) and Road and Infrastructure Cess (RIC) applicable to petrol, Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) and high-speed diesel oil respectively.
The three notifications have been issued under the Central Excise Act, 1944 read with the relevant provisions of the Finance Acts and have been made effective from August 15, 2026. The changes form part of the continuing series of revisions to petroleum-product export levies that began with the principal notifications issued on March 26, 2026.
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The latest Gazette notification contains three distinct amendments.
Under Notification No. 43/2026-Central Excise, the Government has amended Notification No. 06/2026-Central Excise dated March 26, 2026. Against serial number 1 in the relevant table, the existing rate has been replaced with “Nil”. The amendment concerns the levy of Special Additional Excise Duty on the specified petroleum product covered by that entry, namely motor spirit, commonly known as petrol. The amendment takes effect from August 15, 2026.
Notification No. 44/2026-Central Excise makes a separate amendment to Notification No. 08/2026-Central Excise. Against serial number 1, the rate in column (4) has been substituted with ₹19.5 per litre. The amendment also takes effect from August 15, 2026.
The third change comes through Notification No. 45/2026-Central Excise, which amends Notification No. 11/2026-Central Excise. Against serial number 2, the existing rate has been substituted with “Nil”, with effect from August 15, 2026.
The most significant relief under Notification No. 43/2026 is the substitution of the applicable rate with Nil for the entry against serial number 1 of Notification No. 06/2026-Central Excise.
The original Notification No. 06/2026 was issued on March 26, 2026 under Section 5A of the Central Excise Act, 1944 read with Section 147 of the Finance Act, 2002. It prescribed the amount of Special Additional Excise Duty applicable to specified petroleum products cleared for export.
The original framework specifically covered motor spirit, commonly known as petrol, and high-speed diesel oil. The March 26 notification provided a separate rate structure for the two products and expressly restricted the notification to goods cleared for export, while also carving out specified exports by Public Sector Oil Companies to Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
The rate structure was subsequently modified several times during 2026. For example, Notification No. 24/2026 had reduced the applicable rates under Notification No. 06/2026 to ₹1.50 per litre for petrol and ₹13.50 per litre for high-speed diesel oil from June 1, 2026.
The August 14 notification now takes the petrol entry one step further by replacing the applicable rate with Nil.
Accordingly, from August 15, the specified export clearances covered by serial number 1 of Notification No. 06/2026 will no longer bear SAED at a positive rate under that notification.
The second major amendment concerns Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF).
Notification No. 44/2026 amends Notification No. 08/2026-Central Excise dated March 26, 2026. The latest notification substitutes the rate in column (4) against serial number 1 with ₹19.50 per litre.
Notification No. 08/2026 is part of the same export-duty framework under Section 5A of the Central Excise Act read with Section 147 of the Finance Act, 2002. The rate for ATF exports has undergone several revisions during the year.
The rate, for instance, was revised to ₹9.50 per litre from June 1, 2026 and subsequently to ₹7.50 per litre from July 1, 2026.
A later revision had moved the ATF export SAED to ₹14.50 per litre with effect from July 16, 2026.
The latest Notification No. 44/2026 therefore represents another upward revision, taking the prescribed rate to ₹19.50 per litre from August 15, 2026.
This is particularly relevant for exporters and oil-sector entities involved in the international movement of ATF because the rate specified in the notification determines the extent of SAED relief/exemption available against the statutory levy.
The third amendment relates to the Road and Infrastructure Cess (RIC) applicable to high-speed diesel oil cleared for export.
Notification No. 45/2026-Central Excise amends Notification No. 11/2026-Central Excise dated March 26, 2026. The notification has been issued under Section 5A of the Central Excise Act, 1944 read with Section 112 of the Finance Act, 2018.
The Government has substituted the existing entry against serial number 2 in column (4) with “Nil”.
Thus, with effect from August 15, 2026, the specified high-speed diesel oil export clearances covered by serial number 2 will have a Nil RIC rate under the amended notification.
The underlying Notification No. 11/2026 was originally issued to prescribe the applicable Road and Infrastructure Cess treatment for specified petroleum products cleared for export. The original notification covered motor spirit and high-speed diesel oil and specifically provided that the notification would apply to goods cleared for export, subject to the exclusions stated therein.
The RIC rate for high-speed diesel exports had already undergone revisions during the year. In April 2026, the Government had substituted the rate against serial number 2 with Nil with effect from May 1, 2026.
The latest August 14 notification once again confirms Nil for that entry and brings the amendment into force from August 15.
An important aspect of the notifications is that the amendments are made to specific export-related exemption notifications rather than constituting a general change in the Central Excise tariff applicable to all domestic clearances.
The principal notifications were framed under Section 5A of the Central Excise Act, 1944. In the case of Notification No. 06/2026, the power is exercised read with Section 147 of the Finance Act, 2002, while Notification No. 11/2026 is linked to Section 112 of the Finance Act, 2018.
The distinction is significant because the notifications operate by prescribing the extent to which the underlying statutory levy is exempted for the specified goods and circumstances.
Therefore, the latest changes should not be interpreted as a blanket abolition or reduction of all Central Excise duties on petrol, ATF or diesel. Rather, they modify the prescribed rates under particular export-related notifications.
The August 14 notifications are the latest stage in a series of rate changes introduced during 2026.
Notification No. 06/2026-Central Excise was originally issued on March 26, 2026 and has been amended repeatedly. The Gazette itself records that the notification was last amended before the present change by Notification No. 40/2026-Central Excise dated August 3, 2026.
Similarly, Notification No. 08/2026 had been amended several times before the present Notification No. 44/2026. The Gazette records that its immediately preceding amendment was through Notification No. 41/2026-Central Excise dated August 3, 2026.
Notification No. 11/2026 had likewise been amended through Notification No. 42/2026-Central Excise dated August 3, 2026, before being further modified by Notification No. 45/2026.
The frequency of these amendments indicates that the Government has been actively recalibrating the export-related levy structure for petroleum products during 2026.
What Changes From August 15, 2026?
The practical position emerging from the three notifications can be summarised as follows:
| Product / Levy | Relevant Principal Notification | August 14, 2026 Amendment | Effective From |
| Petrol – SAED | Notification No. 06/2026 | Rate substituted with Nil | August 15, 2026 |
| ATF – SAED | Notification No. 08/2026 | Rate substituted with ₹19.50/litre | August 15, 2026 |
| High-Speed Diesel – RIC | Notification No. 11/2026 | Rate substituted with Nil | August 15, 2026 |
The three changes are expressly stated to come into force from August 15, 2026.
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