Fuel prices hiked for seventh time in eight days

New Delhi: The price of petrol and diesel in India was hiked for the seventh time in eight days on Tuesday.

As per a PTI report, petrol price today crossed ₹ 100 a litre mark after rates were hiked by 80 paise a litre and 70 paise in case of diesel, taking the total increase in rates in one week to ₹ 4.80 per litre.

Petrol in Delhi will now cost ₹ 100.21 per litre as against ₹ 99.41 previously while diesel rates have gone up from ₹ 90.77 per litre to ₹ 91.47, according to a price notification of state fuel retailers.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending upon the incidence of local taxation.

This is the seventh increase in prices since the ending of a four-and-half-month long hiatus in rate revision on March 22.

On the first four occasions, prices were increased by 80 paise a litre - the steepest single-day rise since the daily price revision was introduced in June 2017. On the following days, petrol price went up by 50 paise and 30 paise a litre while diesel rose by 55 paise and 35 paise a litre.

In all, petrol and diesel prices have gone up by ₹ 4.80 per litre.

Prices were stable for over four and a half months, a period during which election campaigns and polling were held in five states - Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur.  

Meanwhile, the finance ministry on Monday said that the government is committed to supporting initiatives for releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves for mitigating market volatility and calming the rise in global crude oil prices.

At the same time, it's closely monitoring global price movements of commodities like crude oil, gas, edible oil and fertiliser, and their impact on trade and the economy in the wake of the Ukraine crisis, minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

In India, petrol and diesel prices are revised daily in accordance with the international crude rates. 

On Monday, international Brent crude had settled at USD 112.48 a barrel, plunging by USD 8.17 or 6.8 per cent. Meanwhile, US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell USD 7.94 or about 7 per cent to settle at USD 105.96 a barrel.

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