India, March 27 -- The central government has eliminated key excise duty on petrol and diesel prices in India, in what can be seen as an attempt to shield the economy from a domino effect of surge in crude oil prices due to the Iran war.

In a series of late-night notifications, the Ministry of Finance announced that the special additional excise duty and additional excise duty on petrol have been cut to "Nil". For diesel, the government set the SAED at Rs.18.5/litre and the additional excise duty at Rs.3/litre.

These measures, effective immediately, arrive as brent crude remains volatile near $100 a barrel, having recently touched peaks of $119 following military strikes on Iranian infrastructure.

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