Petrol price cut, now at lowest level in 2018
NEWDELHI:PETROL price on Sunday was cut by 22 paise per litre to its lowest level in 2018 while diesel rates were reduced by 23 paise to a nine-month low.
Petrol price in Delhi was cut to ₹69.04 per litre from ₹69.26 while diesel rates came down to ₹63.09 from ₹63.32 a litre, according to the price notification of stateowned oil firms.
Petrol prices, which have been on a decline since October 18 except for one day, are at their lowest level of 2018. Diesel rates are at their lowest since Marchend. In all, petrol price has fallen by ₹13.79 per litre since October 18, more than negating all of the hike that was witnessed in the two-month period beginning mid-august.
Diesel prices have declined by ₹12.06 per litre in two and half months. Petrol price had touched a record high of ₹84 per litre in Delhi and ₹91.34 in Mumbai on October 4. Diesel on that day had peaked to ₹75.45 a litre in Delhi and ₹80.10 in Mumbai.
Prices had started to climb from August 16.
Petrol in Delhi was priced at ₹77.14 and in Mumbai at ₹84.58 per litre on August 15. Diesel on that day was priced at ₹68.72 per litre in Delhi and ₹72.96 in Mumbai.
Between August 16 and October 4, petrol price was hiked by ₹6.86 per litre and diesel by ₹6.73.
On that day, the government decided to cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by ₹1.50 per litre each and asked state-owned fuel retailers to subsidise the price by another ₹1 a litre by reducing their margins.
Subsequent to this, the petrol price moderated to ₹81.50 per litre in Delhi and diesel to ₹72.95 a litre on October 5. In Mumbai, rates fell to ₹86.97 per litre for petrol and ₹77.45 in case of diesel.
As the international oil prices continued to rise, price of petrol and diesel in Delhi increased to ₹82.83 and ₹75.69 on October 17. In Mumbai, rates touched ₹88.29 a litre for petrol and ₹79.35 for diesel.
But since then, international oil prices have been falling and rupee has also appreciated, resulting in a decline in retail rates.