PETROL PRICE CROSSES ₹85 MARK FOR FIRST TIME IN DELHI

NEW DELHI: Petrol price on Tuesday breached the ₹85 a litre mark in the national capital and diesel neared record high after rates were raised for the second consecutive day.

Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 25 paise per litre each, according to a price notification from oil marketing companies.

This took the petrol price in Delhi to ₹85.20 per litre and to ₹91.80 in Mumbai.

Diesel rate climbed to ₹75.38 a litre in the national capital just shying away from its record high—and to an all-time high of ₹82.13 in Mumbai, the price data showed.

Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 25 paise per litre each on Monday as well.

While petrol and diesel prices are at a record high in Mumbai, petrol price in the national capital is at an all-time high. Diesel price is just short of ₹75.45 a litre record touched on October, 4, 2018. State-owned fuel retailers—Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL)—had on January 6 resumed daily price revision after nearly a monthlong hiatus. Since then rates have gone up by ₹1.49 a litre on petrol and ₹1.51 in case of diesel.

This comes after international oil prices firmed up on hopes of demand returning from the rollout of coronavirus vaccines in different countries, including India.

When fuel prices had last touched record high on October 4, 2018, the government had cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by ₹1.50 per litre in a bid to ease inflationary pressure and boost consumer confidence. Alongside, state-owned fuel retailers cut prices by another ₹1 a litre, which they recouped later.