Finance Minister P. Chidambaram Monday reduced excise duty on many segments of the automobile industry which has seen a recent downturn due to high fuel and interest costs and low economic growth.

The finance minister reduced the central excise on small cars, scooters/two-wheelers from 12 to 8 percent.

He also reduced the central excise from 30 percent to 24 percent on SUVs, and medium segment sedans from 27-24 percent to 24-20 percent, respectively.