Price hike again for petrol and diesel

New Delhi: There has been another hike in prices of petrol and diesel prices on Friday taking them to their highest ever levels across the country.

With the hikes by 35 paise a litre, the price of petrol in Delhi rose to its highest-ever level of Rs 105.14 a litre; in Mumbai it rose to Rs 111.09 per litre, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. Diesel in Mumbai will now cost Rs 101.78 a litre; while in Delhi, it costs Rs 93.87.

This is the second straight day of 35 paise per litre increase in petrol and diesel prices. There was no change in rates on October 12 and 13.

This is the 14th time petrol price has seen a raise, and the 17th for diesel, since the end of a three-week-long hiatus in rate revision in the last week of September.

While petrol price in most of the country is already above Rs 100-a-litre mark, diesel rates have crossed that level in a dozen states, including Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Kerala, Karnataka and Leh.

Local taxes levied by states result in different end prices for the fuels. Clamour for bringing fuel process under the GST regime, though raised by consumers and other stake holders, have not been heeded so far towards implementation. Once done, GST on fuel prices will end the variations betweem states, and also bring down the total tax levied on the products - the very reason why most states oppose the move; their current hefty revenue from that head will get dwindle.

Shedding the modest price change policy, state-owned fuel retailers have since October 6 started passing on the larger incidence of cost to consumers.

Oil companies attribute the recent rise in prices to the increase in international crude oil prices. The international benchmark Brent crude is trading at USD 84.61 per barrel for the first time in seven years. A month ago, the grade was trading at USD 73.51. Being a net importer of oil, India prices petrol and diesel at rates equivalent to international prices.

Since September 28, when the hiatus of fuel price hikes ended, petrol price has registered an increase of Rs 4.25 per liter and diesel price has gone up by Rs 5.25.

Before that, petrol price was increased by Rs 11.44 a litre between May 4 and July 17. Diesel rate had gone up by Rs 9.14 during this period.

(Basedon PTI feed with minor edits)