Petrol price close to `88-mark in Delhi, diesel near `78-level

New Delhi, Feb. 11: Petrol price in the national capital closed in on record Rs 88 per litre mark while diesel neared `85 in Mumbai after rates across the country were hiked for the third day in a row on Thursday. Petrol price was increased by 25 paise per litre and diesel by 30 paise a litre, according to a price notification of stateowned fuel retailers.

This took petrol price to an all-time high of `87.85 a litre in Delhi and to `94.36 in Mumbai.

Diesel rates rose to `78.03 per litre in the national capital and to an all-time high of `84.94 in Mumbai.

Rates vary from state to state depending on the local incidence of taxation (VAT) and freight.

In three days, prices have gone up by 90 paise per litre each.

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday had told Parliament that the government is not considering a reduction in excise duty to cool rates from their record highs.

Rates have risen as international oil prices touched $61 per barrel for the first time in more than a year on improving demand outlook amid the global rollout of Covid vaccines, he had said.

Central and state taxes make up for over 61 per cent of the retail selling price of petrol and about 56 per cent of diesel.

Retail petrol rates have risen by `18.26 per litre since mid-March 2020 after the government raised taxes by a record margin to mop up gains arising from fall in international oil prices. Diesel rates have gone up by `15.74.