Petrol price takes a breather after scaling peak 100
After scaling new heights on Saturday, the petrol price on May 30, Sunday has taken a breather along with diesel price. The oil marketing companies increased the per litre price of petrol and diesel by 25 paise and 30 paise respectively on May 29, which resulted in the per litre cost of petrol and diesel in Mumbai reached ₹100.19 and ₹92.17 respectively.
Also Read : Petrol slams century in Mumbai for first time ever, motorists unlikely to cheer
On Sunday, the prices of petrol and diesel remain unchanged at the same price as it was on Saturday.
In the national capital Delhi, the price of per litre petrol was increased by 26 paise, which resulted in it costing at ₹93.94 a litre. On the other hand, per litre diesel price was increased by 28 paise, to ₹84.89.
In May 2021, petrol and diesel prices have increased 16 times so far, while there has been not a single reduction. With this, both the motor fuels are selling at record retail price, impacting not only the motorists but non-motorists as well.
While the motorists are witnessing their wallets being burnt due to the record-high price of petrol and diesel, the common people and non-motorists are feeling the heat due to the increasing prices of goods and commodities. The lack of demand, lockdowns, high cost of transport are impacting the transport and trucking sector and eventually resulting in a higher price of goods. The inflation is directly hitting the common people hard at a time when the country is already reeling under pressure from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The petrol and diesel prices vary from state to state. There are several components that as combined form the retail price of the motor fuels. These pricing components include excise duty, freight charges, VAT, dealer commission etc. The excise duty is imposed by the central government and the VAT is imposed by the state governments. Both the state and central government taxes contribute to around 60% of the retail price of petrol and 54% of diesel retail price.
While there have been demands for a tax rate reduction, the central government has straight denied that. Some of the state governments reduced the VAT rate marginally before the state assembly elections, but those were not sufficient to reduce the burden.
