Petrol hits ₹100/L in Raj, ₹96 in Mumbai

Rajeev Jayaswal, Sachin Saini and Aroosa Ahmed

NEW DELHI/JAIPUR/MUMBAI: Petrol on Wednesday touched a crude ₹100 a litre in a Rajasthan district, even as rates rose to record highs elsewhere, including Mumbai’s all-time peak of petrol at ₹96 a litre and diesel at ₹86.98 a litre. All this while Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised the governments that came before his for not doing enough to address India’s dependence on imports for oil and petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan appealed to major oil producers to relax their self-imposed production cuts.

Petrol dealers in Mumbai said consumption of petrol and diesel has not decreased following repeated price hikes, but that sales have not approached precoronavirus levels. “As local train services are not yet fully operational and citizens are continuing to use personal vehicles, the trend is of a constant steady increase in the consumption of petrol and diesel. Sales have not reached the level of pre-coronavirus yet.” said M Venkatrao, president, Petrol Dealers’ Association.

Meanwhile, the retail price of petrol crossed ₹100 per litre in Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar, the first time the fuel was sold at rates in the three digits anywhere in the country, as rising global crude oil prices and tight fiscal headroom appeared to limit the government’s ability to restrain the spike.

Central and state taxes make up for over 61% of the retail selling price of petrol and about 56% of diesel. Pradhan had said last week that an increased investment in development of basic infrastructure, among other factors, had resulted in a frequent hike in fuel prices.

The government has urged the oil producers’ cartel – the Organisation of Petrol Exporting Countries (OPEC) – as well as allies such as Russia to ease production cuts as higher prices are hitting demand and adding to inflation.