Maruti Suzuki the major car manufacturer of India, will not be passing the benefits of lower excise duty on Maruti Suzuki Swift petrol variant to it’s customers. The company will save around Rs.40000 per car, but not passing this benefit to customer. Maruti is blaming a cost spike for its decision, a departure from the past.
Cars under 4 meters length with 1.2-liter petrol engines and 1.5-liter diesel engines attract an 8% excise duty while other passenger vehicles are taxed at 20%. Maruti, launched the 1.2-liter petrol Swift in January, but retained the Rs 4-lakh base price of its 1.3-liter model. The smaller engine attracts an 8% excise duty, 12% lower than that of the phased-out bigger version.
Maruti is saying that there is cost increase because the Swift is equipped with new variant of engine, so they are not passing the benefits to customers. Lets hope that soon they will rethink their decision and may pass some benefits to the consumer.
