In one of the steepest increases since daily price revision was started, petrol price on Friday was hiked by 28 paise per litre and diesel by 31 paise as oil companies raised rates for the fourth straight day to pass on to consumers the increase in international oil prices.
Petrol price in Delhi was increased to Rs 91.27 per litre from Rs 90.99 while diesel rates went up to Rs 81.73 from Rs 81.42, according to a price notification by state-owned fuel retailers.
Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the local incidence of taxation (VAT).
In Mumbai, the price of petrol and diesel stood at Rs 97.61 and Rs 88.82 per litre respectively.
The price of petrol and diesel in Chennai was Rs 93.15 and Rs 86.65 per litre respectively and Rs 91.41 and Rs 84.57 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 unexplained freeze in rate revision, had hit a pause button after cutting prices marginally on April 15. This coincided with electioneering hitting 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.
Despite the concerns about rising COVID-19 cases in India denting demand, crude oil prices in the international market have risen primarily on account of strong US demand recovery and a weak dollar.
Prices have been on a continuous uptrend since April 27, an industry official said adding crude oil prices are 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.
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