Steepest one-day hike in fuel price
New Delhi: Petrol and diesel price were on Friday hiked by about 50 paisa per litre each — the steepest increase in rates since daily price revision came into effect over 14 months back — to push rates to their highest ever.
Since mid-August, petrol price has risen by `2.85 a litre and diesel by `3.3 per litre as rupee hit record low against the US dollar, making imports costlier.
New Delhi, Sept. 7: Petrol and diesel price were Friday hiked by about 50 paisa per litre each — the steepest increase in rates since daily price revision came into effect over 14 months back — to push rates to their highest ever.
Petrol price was hiked by 48 paisa per litre and diesel by 47 a litre, according to price notification issued by fuel retailers.
A litre of petrol in Delhi now costs `79.99 — a record high. It costs `84.81 in Hyderabad.
Diesel is now priced at `72.07 a litre in Delhi and `78.39 per litre in Hyderabad.
Opposition parties have announced nationwide strikes and protests next week over record-high fuel prices which they blame on high taxes.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley remained noncommittal on cutting excise duty to cushion spiralling petrol and diesel prices, saying international oil prices are volatile and have not shown any linear movement.
Since mid-August, petrol price has risen by `2.85 a litre and diesel by `3.3 per litre as rupee hit record low against the US dollar, making imports costlier.
Opposition Congress has demanded that the Centre cut excise duty as was done by previous governments, which cut rates whenever international oil prices shot up.
Almost half of the retail selling price of the two fuel is made up of central and state taxes.
Prices have been on fire since mid-August, rising almost every day due to a combination of a drop in rupee value and rise in crude oil rates.
On Tuesday, former finance minister P. Chidambaram had stated that the “Relentless rise in prices of petrol and diesel is not inevitable. Because the price is built up by excessive taxes on petrol and diesel. If taxes are cut, prices will decline significantly”.