Petrol And Diesel Touch All Time Highs As Oil Companies Hike Rates

Petrol price on Monday increased by 33 paisa a litre in Delhi- the highest since the daily price revision came into force in mid-June 2017, and diesel by 26 paisa, according to price notification issued by state-owned oil firms. Rates vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT. Prices in Delhi are the cheapest in all metros and most state capitals. With this increase, petrol has touched an all-time-high, breaching the previous high of Rs. 76.06 touched in Delhi on September 14, 2013. Diesel rates are also at the all-time high level.

This is the seventh straight day of price increase since oil PSUs on May 14 resumed daily price revision after a 19-day pre-Karnataka poll hiatus. In all, petrol price has been raised by Re. 1.61 a litre and diesel by Re. 1.64 in last one week.

In India, petrol is the costliest in Mumbai where high local taxes have led a price of Rs. 84.07 per litre. Petrol has breached Rs. 80 mark in Bhopal (Rs. 81.83 a litre), Patna (Rs. 81.73), Hyderabad (Rs. 80.76) and Srinagar (Rs. 80.35), according to the price notification.

Petrol in Kolkatta costs Rs. 78.91 per litre while it is priced at Rs. 79.13 in Chennai. The cheapest petrol is available in Panjim where a litre comes for Rs. 70.26.

Diesel is the costliest in Hyderabad were it is priced at Rs. 73.45 a litre due to high local taxes. It is priced at Rs. 73.34 in Trivandrum. Other cities where diesel rates have crossed Rs. 70 mark are Raipur (Rs. 72.96 a litre), Gandhinagar (Rs. 72.63), Bhubhaneswar (Rs. 72.43), Patna (Rs. 72.24), Jaipur (Rs. 71.97), Ranchi (Rs. 71.35), Bhopal (Rs. 71.12) and Srinagar (Rs. 70.96)

A litre of diesel costs Rs. 71.94 in Mumbai, Rs. 70.12 in Kolkata and Rs. 71.32 in Chennai, the notification said.

Diesel is the cheapest in Port Blair where it is priced at Rs. 63.35. On Friday, Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg refused to say if the government will cut excise duty on auto fuel to ease the burden on consumers.

The government is watching the situation developing from oil prices hitting USD 80 a barrel -- the highest since November 2014, and adequate steps will be taken, is all he said said without elaborating.

Asked if the government would cut excise duty on petrol and diesel, he had stated that he has nothing to say on that front. "Just watch."

The BJP-led government had raised excise duty nine times -- totalling Rs. 11.77 per litre on petrol and Rs. 13.47 on diesel -- between November 2014 and January 2016 to shore up finances as global oil prices fell, but then cut the tax just once in October last year by Rs. 2 a litre.

No sooner had Karnataka polled to elect a new state government, state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) on Monday ended a hiatus in revising petrol and diesel prices that began on April 25 and reverted to the 11-month old practices of changing rates on a daily basis.

Oil PSUs are estimated to have lost about Rs. 500 crore on absorbing higher cost resulting from the spike in international oil rates and fall in rupee against the US dollar during the nearly three week hiatus.

The benchmark international rate for petrol, used for revising rate on April 24, had gone up from USD 78.84 per barrel to USD 84.97 on May 14. It has further risen to USD 84.97, indicating more daily hikes would be needed to level retail price with cost.

Similarly, benchmark international diesel rates during this period have climbed from USD 84.68 per barrel to USD 90.28 per barrel. Also, the rupee has weakened to Rs. 67.27 per US dollar from Rs. 66.62, making imports costlier.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)