Petrol, diesel prices remain unchanged for the 12th straight day

Petrol and diesel prices across India were unchanged for the 12th straight day at their record highs across the country on Thursday. So far, there has not been any revision in petrol and diesel prices in March. The prices of the auto fuels were last changed on February 27, 2021, with petrol price being surged by 24 paise per litre and diesel price being hiked by 15 paise in Delhi.

Petrol price in Delhi on Thursday stands at ₹91.17 per litre while diesel is available for ₹81.47. In Mumbai, petrol is retailing at ₹97.57, while diesel costs ₹88.60, as the oil marketing companies kept the price unchanged.

In February 2021, the price of petrol had breached the ₹100 mark in places such as Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Post the presentation of Union Budget 2021, the price of petrol and diesel were increased rapidly for consecutive days.

As the retail price of petrol and diesel consists of both central and state government taxes along with the dealer commission, the state and central taxes contribute around 60% of the retail price. The states like West Bengal, Assam and Meghalaya have already announced cut in their share of taxes in an attempt to reduce the burden from the common people and motorists. However, until and unless the central government taxes are reduced, the rice will not be down significantly. Meanwhile, there are discussions going on to bring the auto fuel pricing under the ambit of GST, which would reduce the price of petrol and diesel significantly across India.

Meanwhile, in the international market, the crude oil price has been increasing for the last few days, which has impacted the pricing of petrol and diesel in India as well. As OPEC+ has extended the production cut of crude oil till the end of April 2021, the petrol and diesel prices too are likely to increase further in the coming days.