Petrol and diesel prices unchanged for 18 straight days

Petrol and diesel prices on Wednesday remained unchanged for the 18th consecutive day at their record highs across the country. Both the petrol and diesel prices have not been revised in March and were last changed on February 27, 2021, when petrol price was hiked by 24 paise per litre and diesel cost was raised by 15 paise.

The much-awaited pause in the upward rally of petrol and diesel prices came after the prices of auto fuels shot sky high in the first two months of 2021 when petrol price went up by ₹4.87 per litre and diesel rates increased by ₹4.99 per litre. The fuel prices generally are revised on a daily basis in line with the international crude prices and foreign exchange rates.

Currently, the petrol price in Delhi stands at ₹91.17 per litre while diesel is available for ₹81.47 per litre. In Mumbai, petrol is retailing at ₹97.57 per litre, the highest among the metro cities of India, while diesel costs ₹88.60 per litre in the financial capital of the country.

The petrol and diesel prices differ from state to state as taxes are levied on them by both central as well as state governments. Besides that, the freight charges and dealer commission too add to the final price.

The central and state taxes make up 60% of the retail selling price of petrol and over 54% of diesel. While the central government levies ₹32.90 per litre of excise duty on petrol, the amount is ₹31.80 a litre on diesel.

In recent times, petrol prices touched ₹100 per litre mark at places in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh. In an attempt to reduce the burden of common people, the state governments like Assam, Meghalaya and West Bengal have cut their tax shares partially. Also, there has been a demand to bring petrol and diesel under GST ambit, which would make the auto fuel price uniform across the country.

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