Petrol, diesel prices hike for second consecutive day

Petrol and diesel prices were increased on Sunday for the second consecutive day. The fuel prices on June 27 were increased by 35 paisa for petrol and 25 paisa for diesel. This was the 31st price hike for petrol and diesel since May 4 when the price revision was resumed after an 18-day hiatus due to the state assembly elections.

With the latest price hike on Sunday, petrol and diesel in Mumbai cost ₹104.56 a litre for petrol and ₹96.42 per litre for diesel. In Delhi, petrol is retailing at 98.46 per litre and diesel at ₹88.90. Per litre petrol and diesel price in Chennai are ₹99.49 and ₹93.46 respectively. Petrol and diesel are selling in Kolkata at ₹98.30 per litre and ₹91.75 per litre respectively.

With the continuous upward rally of petrol and diesel prices, several state capitals across India have already breached ₹100 mark. With the latest price hike several other state capitals too inched towards the century mark.

Patna and Thiruvananthapuram joined the list of cities where petrol prices have hit a century on Saturday. Now Chennai is on the brink of joining the list. Kolkata too is not very far from joining the list.

Currently, one litre of petrol costs more than ₹100 in 12 states and UTs including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Ladakh, Bihar, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

The retail oil prices are comprised of several components. These include excise duty, freight charges, state government VAT, dealer commission. Central and state government taxes contribute 60% of petrol prices and 54% of diesel prices. The price of petrol and diesel vary from state to state due to he varied rate of VAT.

There have been demands for reduction of excise duty on fuel to give relief to the consumers. The central government denied he proposal however.