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Petrol, diesel prices hiked again, up by 30 paise per litre
Retail prices are arrived at by adding central and state taxes and dealer commissions are added to the refinery gate price of auto fuels to arrive at the retail price. Only 25-30 per cent of the retail fuel rates are dependent on the international benchmark cost.
Petrol and diesel prices witnessed new highs on Friday as state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) once again raised the fuel rates by 30 paise a litre each in the National Capital Region (NCR) and other cities. Diesel prices are currently retailing at Rs.77.13 a litre in NCR. In Mumbai, diesel retailed at Rs.83.99 per litre and petrol at Rs.93.49 a litre. Friday’s rise marked a slight decrease from Thursday’s hike by 35 paise per litre each for petrol and diesel after a week’s gap.
On Wednesday, Union oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply that excise duty levied by the Central government accounts for ₹32.98 per litre of the price of petrol in Delhi and sales tax or Value Added Tax (VAT) of the state government constitutes ₹19.55.
International oil prices have improved following the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec)-plus countries decision to continue with supply curb following their meeting on February 3. Since India imports 83% of its oil supply from Opec.
India introduced a new agriculture infrastructure development cess (AIDC) on petrol, diesel, and several other imported items in this year’s Union Budget. Taxes on petrol and diesel have been raised by Rs.13 and Rs.16, respectively, in two separate tranches, through special additional excise duty, besides road and infrastructure cess.
Retail prices are arrived at by adding central and state taxes and dealer commissions are added to the refinery gate price of auto fuels to arrive at the retail price. Only 25-30 per cent of the retail fuel rates are dependent on the international benchmark cost rest is decided by central and state taxes.
