No respite for the common man yet, as fuel prices continue to surge in the country. The price of Petrol was hiked once again by oil marketing companies today. With the latest hike, the petrol price in Delhi has breached the Rs 100 mark.
Petrol in the national capital costs Rs 100.21 per litre, up 35 paise since yesterday, while Diesel in the capital city is retailing at Rs 89.53 per litre today, up 17 paise. Delhi is the last of the metro cities to see petrol rising above the Rs 100-a-litre mark. Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune already have prices above that mark.
Kolkata also saw petrol prices climbing over Rs 100 per litre on Wednesday.
As of July 7, the fuel pump rate has crossed the Rs 100-a-litre mark in at least 16 states and Union Territories. These states and Union Territories include Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Delhi, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Bihar, Punjab, Ladakh, Sikkim, Jammu and Kashmir and Odisha.
The hike on Wednesday is the 36th 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 five states. In 36 hikes, the price of petrol and diesel have gone up by more than ₹9 per litre.
The prices of petrol and diesel have been going up almost every alternate day for the last few months. One of the key reasons behind the spate of fuel price hikes is attributed to the fluctuations in the global crude oil prices and foreign exchange rates.
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.