Fuel prices over ₹100 in many cities

NEW DELHI: Petrol prices on Sunday were above ₹100 a litre in all major cities across the country from Srinagar to Kochi, after its rates and that of diesel were hiked by 80 paise a litre each. This is the 11th increase since a four-and-half-month long hiatus in rate revision ended on March 22. The total rise since has been ₹8 per litre.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state, depending upon local taxation.

Petrol in Delhi will now cost ₹103.41 per litre against ₹102.61 previously while diesel rates have gone up from ₹93.87 per litre to ₹94.67, according to a price notification of state fuel retailers. Diesel is above ₹100 per litre in Thiruvananthapuram (₹101.83 a litre), Hyderabad (₹103.3), Mumbai (₹102.62), Bhubaneswar (₹100.1), Raipur (₹100.74) and several cities of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Telengana, and Andhra Pradesh.

Diesel rates in Chennai and Bhopal are above ₹99 per litre.

Diesel is the costliest in Chittor in Andhra Pradesh (₹105.52 a litre), while petrol at ₹120.65 a litre is the costliest at the border town of Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan. Prices had been on a freeze since November 4 ahead of Assembly polls in states such as UP and Punjab, a period during which the cost of crude oil soared by about $30 per barrel.

The revision in the prices of petrol and diesel was expected soon after the counting of votes on March 10. However, it was put off by a couple of weeks.

The increase in retail price warranted by crude oil prices rising during the 137-day hiatus is huge. However, state-owned fuel retailers IOC, BPCL and HPCL are passing on the increase in stages.

Oil companies “will need to raise diesel prices by ₹13.1-24.9 per litre and that of petrol by ₹10.6-22.3 a litre at an underlying crude price of $100-120 per barrel,” according to Kotak Institutional Equities.