Consumers can heave a sigh of relief as oil marketing companies (OMCs) have reduced the retail price of petrol and diesel for second consecutive day on Thursday.
Petrol price fell by 21 paise per litre and diesel by 20 paise per litre in Delhi on Thursday. This has brought down the retail price of petrol to Rs 90.78 and diesel to Rs 81.10 a litre, respectively in the capital.
Across the country as well, the petrol and diesel price fell with the quantum varying on the level of local levies on respective states.
In Mumbai, the petrol price was cut to Rs 97.19 a litre on Thursday from Rs 97.40 while diesel rates were reduced to Rs 88.20 from Rs 88.42, the price notification showed.
A litre of petrol in Chennai costs Rs 92.77 per litre and diesel Rs 86.10 per litre. While in Kolkata, petrol is now selling at Rs 90.98 and diesel at Rs 83.98.
Premium petrol, however, continues to remain over Rs 100 a litre in the city as is the case with several cities across the country.
Petrol and diesel prices were last revised upwards on February 27 and ever since then retail prices remained unchanged even though during the period, crude jumped to over $70 a barrel only to start falling and touching close to $60 a barrel now.
The current reduction in retail prices has not helped in bringing down fuel prices that have crossed Rs 100 per litre-mark in several parts of the country and continues to remain above the levels even now.
Since the beginning of February crude has gained more than $7 per barrel that pushed OMCs to increase fuel prices on 14 occasions raising the prices by Rs 4.22 per litre for petrol and by Rs 4.34 a litre for diesel in Delhi.
Crude has now slipped around 10 per cent in last eight days and is now sitting a tab lower around $60 a barrel on the back of rising US inventory and concerns on demand squeeze over new wave of the pandemic.
The petrol and diesel prices have increased 26 times in 2021 with the two auto fuels increasing by Rs 7.46 and Rs 7.60 per litre, respectively so far this year.
(With inputs from Agencies)
