Petrol, diesel prices touch record highs
Petrol and diesel prices on Friday touched record high levels across the country after rates were increased for the fourth time this week.
Petrol price was hiked by 29 paise per litre and diesel by 34 paise a litre, according to a price notification by state-owned fuel retailers.
The increase rates in Delhi to climb to an all-time high of ₹92.34 per litre for petrol and ₹82.95 per litre for diesel.
Rates had already crossed the ₹100-mark in several cities in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and with the latest increase, prices in Mumbai too were inching towards that level.
A litre of petrol in Mumbai now comes for ₹98.65 and diesel is priced at ₹90.11 per litre.
Fuel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as VAT and freight charges. Rajasthan levies the highest value-added tax (VAT) on petrol in the country, followed by Madhya Pradesh.
This was the fourth increase in prices this week and eighth hike since May 4, when the state-owned oil firms ended an 18-hiatus in rate revision they observed during assembly elections in states like West Bengal.
Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan had the costliest petrol and diesel in the country at ₹103.27 per litre and ₹95.70 per litre respectively.
In eight increases, petrol price has risen by ₹1.95 per litre and diesel by ₹2.22.
Since March last year when the government raised excise duty on fuel to an all-time high, petrol price has increased by a record ₹22.75 per litre (after accounting for a handful of occasions when rates fell) and diesel by ₹20.66.
Oil companies, who have in recent months resorted to unexplained freeze in rate revision, had hit a pause button after cutting prices marginally on April 15.
This coincided with electioneering hitting a peak to elect new governments in five states including West Bengal.
Central and state taxes make up for 60% of the retail selling price of petrol and over 54 per cent of diesel. The union government levies the ₹32.90 per litre of excise duty on petrol and the ₹31.80 on diesel. NEW DELHI: