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The Indian government has exempted fuel exports to the Maldives from the Road and Infrastructure Cess (RIC), a tax previously applied to petrol and diesel exported from India.

The decision was published in the Indian Gazette on Tuesday and took effect immediately. Mauritius has also been included in the exemption.

The waiver applies to petrol and diesel exported by India's state-owned oil companies.

Before the latest amendment, the exemption was available only for exports to Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The Maldives and Mauritius have now been added to the list.

The change is expected to reduce the cost of fuel imported from India.

However, India is not one of the Maldives' main sources of imported fuel.

The Maldives imports most of its petrol and diesel from Oman. Diesel is also sourced from Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore, while petrol and jet fuel are imported from Singapore, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates.

The Maldives has previously discussed sourcing fuel from India as a contingency measure in the event of supply disruptions linked to regional conflicts involving Iran.

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