Petrol and diesel prices were hiked again on Friday by 35 paise per litre, sending retail pump prices to their highest ever level across the country.
In Mumbai, the retail price of petrol jumped to Rs 111.09 per litre on Friday. Diesel price also increased in the city by 37 paise per litre to reach Rs 101.78 a litre, the highest among metros.
Fuel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as value-added tax (VAT) and freight charges.
In Delhi, petrol and diesel rates jumped by 35 paise to cost Rs 105.14 and Rs 93.87 per litre respectively.
In Chennai, petrol is retailed at Rs 102.40 and diesel at Rs 98.26 per litre while in Kolkata, petrol costs Rs 105.76 and diesel Rs 96.98 per litre.
This is the 14th time that petrol price has been hiked in two weeks while diesel rates have gone up on 16 times in three weeks. There was no change in rates on October 12 and 13.
While petrol price in most of the country is already above Rs 100-a-litre mark, diesel rates have crossed that level in a dozen states including Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Bihar, Kerala, Karnataka and Leh.
Shedding the modest price change policy, state-owned fuel retailers have since October 6 started passing on the larger incidence of cost to consumers.
This is because the international benchmark Brent crude has jumped to near USD 84 per barrel for the first time in seven years. On September 13, Brent was trading at USD 73.51. Being a net importer of oil, India prices petrol and diesel at rates equivalent to international prices.
The surge in international oil prices ended a three-week hiatus in rates on September 28 for petrol and September 24 for diesel. Since then, diesel rates have gone up by Rs 4.9 per litre and petrol price has increased by Rs 3.9. Prior to that, the petrol price was increased by Rs 11.44 a litre between May 4 and July 17. Diesel rate had gone up by Rs 9.14 during this period.
(With inputs from Agencies)
