Budget 2016-17: Clean energy cess doubled to Rs.400

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has doubled the clean energy cess to Rs.400 per tonne of coal. He also introduced infrastructure cess on petrol, diesel and luxury cars. Jaitley renamed the cess, used to finance clean environment initiatives, as the clean environment cess. In the 2015-16 budget, Jaitley had doubled the clean energy cess from Rs.100 to Rs.200 per tonne. India, the world´s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is among the few countries to have introduced a carbon tax. With India bullish on coal mining, collection of the cess is expected to be substantial. Jaitley also proposed an infrastructure cess of a per cent on small cars (petrol, CNG and LPG), 2.5 per cent on small diesel cars and 4 per cent on luxury vehicles and SUVs (worth above Rs10 lakh).