Fuel Prices Soar To New High After Hike
A 10 paise per litre hike in petrol price, and a nine paise per litre increase in diesel price came into effect today.
After a day’s hiatus, petrol and diesel prices were today hiked to new highs. While rates were not changed on Monday, a 10 paise per litre hike in petrol price, and a nine paise per litre increase in diesel price came into effect from today, according to a price notification of state-owned oil marketing companies.
Petrol in Delhi now costs Rs 82.16 per litre, and diesel is valued at Rs 73.87 per litre. In Mumbai, petrol priced touched an all-time high of Rs 89.54 per litre. In other metro cities like Kolkata and Chennai, it costs Rs 83.91 and Rs 85.31 per litre respectively.
A litre of diesel in Mumbai costs Rs 78.42, Rs 75.53 in Kolkata and Rs 78 per litre in Chennai, according to the notification. Delhi has the cheapest fuel rates among all metros and most state capitals because of lower taxes. Mumbai has the highest sales tax or value added tax.
A combination of a dip in rupee value against the U.S. dollar, and a rise in crude oil prices has led to a spike in fuel prices since mid-August. Petrol price has since risen by Rs 5.02 per litre, and diesel has surged Rs 5.15 per litre-- the most in any one-month period since the daily revision in fuel prices was introduced in June last year.
Rates vary from city to city and from pump to pump, depending on local taxes and transportation cost. The deadly cocktail of high oil prices and depreciating rupee has made imports costlier and led to a surge in fuel prices.
Price of Brent crude, benchmark for half the world's oil including India's, was hovering around $80 per barrel while rupee traded at 72.8112 versus U.S. dollar today, nearing a record low of 72.9138 it touched last week.
Nearly 80 percent of of India’s total oil needs is met through imports.