The government on Wednesday scrapped a three-week-old tax on the export of petrol and cut windfall taxes on overseas shipments of diesel and ATF as well as on domestically-produced crude oil after global oil prices fell. 

While the Rs 6 a litre export duty on petrol was scrapped, the tax on the export of diesel and jet fuel (ATF) was cut by Rs 2 per litre each to Rs 11 and Rs 4 respectively, government notifications showed. 

The tax on domestically-produced crude oil was also cut to Rs 17,000 per tonne from Rs 23,250, a move that will benefit State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Vedanta. 

Besides, correcting the anomaly that had crept in when the windfall taxes were slapped on July 1, the government exempted fuel exports from refineries located in export-focused zones from the levies. 

The move will benefit Reliance Industries whose exports had become uncompetitive due to the export levies that were as high as $26 per barrel. 

On July 13, the PTI had reported that the windfall tax review was expected following a sharp fall in global oil prices. 

India had imposed windfall taxes on July 1, joining a growing number of nations that tax super-normal profits of energy companies. But international oil prices have cooled since then, eroding profit margins at both oil producers and refiners.