After a two-day break, petrol and diesel prices in the country were hiked again by state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) on Monday.
On Monday, petrol price was hiked by a steep 26 paise per litre and diesel by 33 paise a litre, according to a price notification by state-owned fuel retailers.
After today’s hike, petrol prices in Delhi rose to Rs 91.53 per litre against Rs 91.27 on Sunday, while diesel price soared to Rs 82.06 per litre as compared to Rs 81.73 a litre on Sunday.
Rates have been increased across the country and differ from state to state depending on the incidence of value-added tax.
In Mumbai, the price of petrol and diesel stood at Rs 97.86 and Rs 89.17 per litre respectively.
The price of petrol and diesel in Chennai was Rs 93.38 and Rs 86.96 per litre respectively and Rs 91.66 and Rs 84.90 per litre in Kolkata.
After raising petrol price by a record Rs 21.58 per litre and diesel by Rs 19.18 since the government raised excise duty to an all-time high in March last year, state-owned fuel retailers — IOC, BPCL and HPCL — had reduced petrol price by 67 paise a litre and diesel by 74 paise per litre effected between March 24 and April 15.
Oil companies, who have in recent months resorted to an unexplained freeze in rate revision, had hit a pause button after cutting prices marginally on April 15. This coincided with electioneering hitting a peak to elect new governments in five states including West Bengal.
No sooner had voting ended, oil companies indicated an impending increase in retail prices in view of firming trends in international oil markets. They said prices have been on a continuous uptrend since April 27. Crude oil price is hovering near USD 70 per barrel mark.
Central and state taxes make up for 60 per cent of the retail selling price of petrol and over 54 per cent of diesel. The union government levies Rs 32.90 per litre of excise duty on petrol and Rs 31.80 on diesel.
(With inputs from PTI)
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