New Delhi, Sept. 23 -- Ahead of the festive season, the government has cut basic customs duty (BCD) on crude and refined edible oils, a move expected to lower import costs for cooking oils and potentially provide some relief to consumers if the benefit is passed on through the supply chain.

The Centre has reduced the BCD on crude soybean oil and crude palm oil to 5% from 10%, while the duty on their refined variants has been cut to 27.5% from 32.5%, according to a government notification issued late on Wednesday.

The duty reduction is sharper for sunflower oil. The BCD on crude sunflower oil has been reduced to nil from 10%, while that on refined sunflower oil has been cut to 22.5% from 32.5%.

The changes will take effect from Thursday...