Petrol, diesel prices reduced in Mumbai from today. Check new rates

Commuters in Maharashtra can breathe easy from sky-high petrol and diesel prices now. On Thursday, the Maharashtra government has finally decided to reduce VAT on petrol and diesel to help the prices slashed. Eknath Shinde, who recently took charge as the new chief minister of the state, made the announcement today. The decision will help petrol price in the state to get cheaper by ₹5 per litre, while diesel will be more affordable with a reduction of ₹3 per litre.

The decision to reduce state taxes on petrol and diesel price in Maharashtra comes after Eknath Shinde replaced former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, who had reduced the VAT on petrol and diesel by ₹2.08 a litre and ₹1.44 per litre respectively. On Thursday, Shinde headed a cabinet meeting where the decision was finalised. This would burden the state exchequer an additional ₹6,000 crore. Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said the decision was part of the Shiv Sena-BJP government’s commitment to people’s welfare.

Before the reduction, petrol price in Mumbai was at ₹111.35 per litre, while a litre of diesel used to cost ₹97.28 per litre. The further reduction in VAT on both fuel will now make petrol cost ₹106.35 per litre in Mumbai and ₹94.28 per litre for a litre of diesel.

The decision to reduce tax on petrol and diesel was taken by the Centre earlier this year to offer relief to consumers as fuel price reached all-time high with hikes almost every other day till May. The excise duty cut on petrol and diesel translated into a reduction of ₹9.5 on petrol and ₹7 a litre on diesel. Earlier in November last year, the Centre had announced excise duty cut on petrol by ₹5 and diesel by ₹10 per litre. The reduction of excise duty came after the Centre increased the tax in 2020 by almost ₹33 per litre on petrol and ₹31.8 per litre on diesel.