35p hike propels fuel prices to all-time high
NEW DELHI: Petrol and diesel prices on Sunday were hiked for the fourth straight day by 35 paise per litre each, pushing pump rates to new record high across the country with states with high incidence of local taxes such as Madhya Pradesh having the costliest fuel.
The price of petrol in Delhi rose to its highest-ever level of ₹109.34 a litre and ₹115.15 per litre in Mumbai, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.
Diesel now costs ₹98.07 a litre in Delhi and ₹106.23 in Mumbai.
This is the fourth consecutive day of the price hike. There was no change in rates between October 25 and 27, prior to which prices were hiked by 35 paise per litre each on four straight days.
While petrol has already hit the ₹100-a-litre mark or more in all major cities of the country, diesel has touched that level in over one-and-a-half dozen states. Diesel rates crossed that level in places ranging from Jalandhar in Punjab to Gangtok in Sikkim. Prices differ from state to state, depending on the incidence of local taxes and cost of transportation.
The twin factors led to petrol price crossing ₹120 a litre mark places such as Panna, Satna, Rewa, Shahdol, Chhindwara and Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh. The same level has also been crossed in two border towns of Rajasthan—Ganganagar and Hanumangarh.
Ganganagar has the costliest fuel in the country with petrol costing ₹121.52 a litre and diesel coming for ₹112.44 per litre.
Petrol price has been hiked on 25 occasions since September 28, when a three-week-long hiatus in rate revision ended. In all, prices have gone up by ₹8.15 a litre.
Diesel rates have been increased by ₹9.45 per litre in 28 hikes since September 24.
Prior to that, the petrol price was increased by ₹11.44 a litre between May 4 and July 17. The diesel rate had gone up by ₹9.14 per litre during this period.
Meanwhile, the government’s collection from levy of excise duty on petroleum products has risen 33% in the first six months of the current fiscal when compared with last year and is 79% more than pre-Covid levels, official data showed.
Data available from the Controller General of Accounts in the Union Ministry of Finance showed excise duty collections during April-September 2021 surging to over ₹1.71 lakh crore, from ₹1.28 lakh crore mop-up in the same period of the previous fiscal.