Burdened with the task of containing fiscal deficit, the finance ministry has rejected the oil ministry's proposal to reduce the crude oil cess that could have given much-needed relief to upstream oil companies such as ONGC, OIL and Cairn.

The oil ministry had proposed to reduce the cess from R4,500 per metric tonne at present to R2,500 per metric tonne. The cess was hiked in 2012-13 Budget. North Block rejected the proposal, saying such as cut in the cess would lead to a revenue loss of around R10,000-R12,000 crore.