Petrol, diesel price hiked for tenth time in 12 days

New Delhi: Petrol and diesel prices were hiked today by 80 paise a litre each, taking the total increase in rates in the last 12 days to ₹ 7.20 per litre.

Petrol in Delhi will now cost ₹ 102.61 per litre as against ₹ 101.81 previously, while diesel rates have gone up from ₹ 93.07 per litre to ₹ 93.87, 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 10th increase in prices since the ending of a four-and-half-month long hiatus in rate revision on March 22.

In all, petrol prices have gone up by ₹ 7.20 per litre.

The government has been stressing that the rise in prices is linked to the Ukraine war, which has led to multiple sanctions against Russia. The opposition has been hitting out at the government over the increase in petrol and diesel prices, questioning the timing, as the surge comes after the end of assembly elections in five states - the BJP retained four of them.

There was a pause in the revision of fuel prices from November last year, which was broken on March 22 following the crude oil increase in the wake of the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The prices will increase further because of the sharp jump in crude oil prices in international markets. On November 3, 2021, the centre had cut excise duty by ₹5 per litre on petrol and ₹10 per litre on diesel to bring down the retail prices across India.

Congress has launched countrywide protests over the fuel price hike.