Fuel prices see 14th hike in May
NEW DELHI: Petrol price on Thursday crossed the ₹100-a-litre mark in Thane district of Maharashtra, while it was hovering a tad below that level in Mumbai, after fuel prices were raised again.
Petrol price was increased by 24 paise per litre and diesel by 29 paise per litre on Thursday, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.
The increase—14th this month—took petrol and diesel prices to an all-time high across the country. The price of petrol, which had already crossed the ₹100-mark in several cities in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra, breached the psychological barrier in the Thane district of Maharashtra.
In Thane, petrol now comes for ₹100.06 a litre and diesel comes for ₹91.99 per litre. In neighbouring Mumbai, petrol price increased to ₹99.94 per litre, while diesel rates soared to ₹91.87. Fuel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as VAT and freight charges. Rajasthan levies the highest valueadded tax (VAT) on petrol in the country, followed by Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
In Delhi, petrol price rose to ₹93.84 a litre and diesel to ₹84.61. This is the 14th increase in prices since May 4, when state-owned oil firms ended an 18-day hiatus in rate revision they observed during assembly elections in states like West Bengal. Oil companies revise rates of petrol and diesel daily based on the average price of benchmark fuel in the international market in the preceding 15-days.
In 14 hikes, petrol price has risen by ₹3.28 per litre and diesel by ₹3.88. Meanwhile, crude prices fell ₹48 to ₹4,775 per barrel after the participants cut their positions. On the MCX, crude for the May delivery dropped by ₹48 to ₹4,775 per barrel with a business volume of 6,743 lots.