Petrol and diesel prices on fire after Sunday hike

Petrol and diesel prices were hiked again on Sunday, May 23, after a day's gap in the daily price revision that has been witnessing an unprecedented increase in fuel prices for the last few days after a hiatus of 18 days due to the state assembly elections. On Sunday, while the petrol price has been hiked by 17 paise per litre, diesel price was increased by 27 paise a litre.

This is the 12th time in May 2021, when petrol and diesel prices have been increased, which started right after the state election results were announced on May 2. In the last 12 increases, per litre petrol price has increased by ₹2.81 per litre and a litre of diesel cost grew by ₹3.34.

With this latest price of the motor fuels, petrol price in Delhi increased to ₹93.21 per litre, while per litre diesel price in the national capital has crossed ₹84 mark and standing at ₹84.07. On Saturday, the price of per litre petrol and diesel in Delhi was ₹93.04 and ₹83.80 respectively.

In Mumbai, petrol and diesel prices on Sunday were highest among the metro cities. Petrol price is almost touching the century mark in the city. Petrol and diesel prices in the business capital of India were ₹99.49 per litre and ₹91.30 per litre, respectively.

Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan currently has the costliest petrol and diesel in India, available at ₹104.18 per litre and ₹96.91 a litre, respectively.

Rates of petrol have already crossed ₹100 a litre mark in several cities of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, with the price hike a few days ago. With these latest price rally, all the reductions in fuel prices announced last month are diminished now.

The fuel prices vary from state to state depending on the incidence of VAT imposed by the state governments, above the excise duty imposed by the central government. The retail fuel prices come with several components added to that,. which include excise duty, freight charges, VAT, dealer commission etc.

Fuel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as VAT and freight charges. Rajasthan levies the highest value-added tax (VAT) on petrol in the country, followed by Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

The oil marketing companies in India revise rates of both petrol and diesel daily depending on the average price of benchmark crude oil in the international market in the preceding 15-days, and foreign exchange rate fluctuations as well.

The tax components imposed by both the central and state governments attribute to 60% for the retail price of petrol and 54% for the pump price of diesel.