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Petrol at ₹88.73 a litre in Delhi as price hiked for sixth day in a row
The relentless hike has been criticised by opposition parties, including Congress that has demanded an immediate cut in taxes to ease the burden on the common man.
The price of petrol increased by 29 paise and 32 paise respectively in Delhi on Sunday. After the hike for sixth consecutive , petrol is retailing at ₹88.73 per litre in the national capital, while diesel is available at ₹79.06 a litre.
Petrol and diesel prices are revised on a daily basis in line with the change in international crude oil prices.
This latest hike will pinch the pockets of commuters in Mumbai more where petrol price neared the record level of ₹95 per litre on Saturday.
In the last five days, price has gone up by ₹1.51 per litre for petrol while diesel rate has risen by ₹1.56 a litre.
Earlier, during her budget speech, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the imposition of Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) of ₹2.5 per litre on petrol and ₹4 per litre on diesel.
The relentless hike has been criticised by opposition parties, including Congress that has demanded an immediate cut in taxes to ease the burden on the common man.
However, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan had on Wednesday said in 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 USD 61 per barrel for the first time in more than a year on improving demand outlook amid the global rollout of Covid-19 vaccines, he had said.
Petrol and diesel prices vary from state to state, due to various taxes levied by the central government and the state government concerned. 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.
The Union government levies ₹32.9 per litre of excise duty on petrol and ₹31.80 a litre on diesel.
The practice of daily revision of fuel prices has been in effect since June 2017, before which the OMCs used to revise the prices every fortnight.
(With inputs from agencies)
