Petrol and diesel prices on Sunday scaled new highs across the country after they were hiked for the 19th time.
Petrol price was hiked by 27 paise per litre and diesel by 29 paise a litre, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.
After today’s hike, petrol prices in Delhi rose to Rs 95.03 per litre against Rs 94.76 on Saturday, while diesel price soared to Rs 85.95 per litre as compared to Rs 85.66 a litre on Saturday.
Rates have been increased across the country and differ from state to state depending on the incidence of value-added tax.
In Mumbai, the price of petrol and diesel stood at Rs 101.25 and Rs 93.30 per litre respectively. After crossing the Rs 100-mark on May 29, the price of petrol in Mumbai has been skyrocketing.
The price of petrol and diesel in Chennai was Rs 96.47 and Rs 90.66 per litre respectively and Rs 95.02 and Rs 88.80 per litre in Kolkata.
Fuel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as VAT and freight charges. Rajasthan levies the highest value-added tax (VAT) on petrol in the country, followed by Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
The increase in Sunday is the 20th increase in prices since May 4, when state-owned oil firms ended an 18-day hiatus in rate revision they observed during assembly elections in states like West Bengal. In 20 increases, petrol price has risen by Rs 4.69 per litre and diesel by Rs 5.28.
Oil companies revise rates of petrol and diesel daily based on the average price of benchmark fuel in the international market in the preceding 15-days, and foreign exchange rates.
Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, a group known as OPEC+, earlier this week agreed to continue relaxing curbs on oil production, signalling their confidence in improving oil demand and a drop in the global supply glut.
The rollout of vaccines is helping governments to reduce coronavirus restrictions and resume more normal economic activity. That will help pare global oil stocks - which at one point last year threatened to overwhelm the world's ability to store them.
(With inputs from Agencies)
