The oil marketing companies hiked domestic prices of petrol and diesel for second consecutive day on Thursday, due to firming international oil prices. Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 25 paise per litre each, according to a price notification from oil marketing companies.
Petrol price today touched a new high in Delhi after state-owned fuel retailers hiked prices. In the national, petrol now costs Rs 84.70 per litre and diesel is priced at Rs 74.88. In Mumbai, petrol comes for Rs 91.32 a litre and diesel for Rs 81.60. This is the highest ever price of petrol in Delhi, while diesel is at a record high in Mumbai.
Meanwhile, petrol now costs Rs 87.40 in Chennai and Rs 86.15 in Kolkata. Diesel costs Rs 80.19 per litre in Chennai and Rs 78.47 in Kolkata.
State-owned fuel retailers -- Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) -- had on January 6, resumed daily price revision after nearly a month-long hiatus.
Petrol price had scaled to an all-time high of Rs 84.20 per litre on January 7. The previous highest ever rate of Rs 84 a litre for petrol in Delhi was touched on October 4, 2018. On that day, diesel too had scaled to an all-time high of Rs 75.45 a litre.
The government had responded to that situation by cutting excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 per litre in a bid to ease inflationary pressure and boost consumer confidence. Alongside, state-owned fuel retailers cut prices by another Re 1 a litre, which they recouped later.
The highest level for petrol in Mumbai was on October 4, 2018, when it was Rs 91.34. Though petrol and diesel rates are to be revised on a daily basis in line with benchmark international price and foreign exchange, government-controlled fuel retailers have been moderating rates since the pandemic broke out.
This after they adjusted a Rs 13 per litre hike in excise duty on petrol and Rs 15 a litre on diesel, against a decrease in the retail selling price that was warranted by crude oil prices falling to an average of USD 19 per barrel in April.
Excise duty totals Rs 32.98 per litre in petrol and Rs 31.83 in diesel. VAT in Delhi totals to Rs 19.32 a litre on petrol and Rs 10.85 on diesel.
Since May 2020, petrol price has risen by Rs 14.79 per litre and diesel by Rs 12.34 a litre, price notifications of oil companies showed.
(Inputs from PTI)
