After 17 hikes since May 4, petrol is costlier by ₹4.09
NEW DELHI: Petrol rates jumped by 26 paise per litre on Tuesday and diesel by 23 paise, the 17th hike in less than a month as international oil prices rallied on demand optimism and prospects of continued supply squeeze by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+).
Petrol is now costlier by ₹4.09 a litre and diesel by 4.65 across the country since May 4, a day after results of five assembly polls were declared.
The price hikes saw petrol breaching ₹100 mark in various cities in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
While petrol and diesel are being sold at record rates across the country, Mumbai has the highest rates among metros. Petrol is currently selling at ₹100.72 per litre in the financial capital and diesel at ₹92.69. Pump prices of petrol and diesel in Delhi on Tuesday also made a new record of ₹94.49 per litre and ₹85.38 a litre, respectively.
Surging international oil prices and exorbitant domestic tax structure are two key reasons for high rates of petrol and diesel. During the intra-day trade benchmark Brent crude spiked to $71.17 a barrel, its highest since March and 2.67% up from the Monday close.
Pump prices of fuels are also high because of taxes. In Delhi, central levies account for 34.8% of petrol’s price and state taxes, 23.08%, according to an official data of June 1. On diesel, central taxes are over 37.24%, while state taxes are about 14.64%.
Meanwhile, India’s petrol and diesel sales fell by about 17% in May from a month ago as restrictions clamped to curb the world’s worst outbreak of Covid-19
stifled demand.
Sales of petrol fell to 1.79 million tonne in May, the lowest in a year, according to the preliminary data of state-owned fuel retailers. While the consumption was almost 13% higher than demand in May 2020, it was 28% lower than pre-covid levels of 2.49 million tonne.
Demand for diesel fell to 4.89 million tonne in May 2021, down 17% from the previous month and 30% from May 2019.
“Local fuel consumption will start to look up this month when second pandemic wave is expected to weaken,” an industry official said.