Petrol crosses Rs 90-mark for 1st time ever in Delhi, diesel at Rs 80.60

Petrol prices on Friday breached the Rs 90-a-litre mark to touch an all-time high of Rs 90.19 in the national capital.
 

Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 31 paise and 33 paise per litre, respectively, on Friday, according to a price notification from oil marketing companies. Diesel price also climbed up to Rs 80.60.

Petrol price on Thursday had touched a record high of Rs 89.88 in New Delhi, two days after breaching the Rs 89-a-litre mark. On Tuesday, the petrol price had topped the Rs 89-mark to touch an all-time high of Rs 89.29 in Delhi. 

Fuel prices, which vary from state to state depending on local sales tax or VAT, are now at record highs in the country, prompting calls for a cut in excise duty to ease the burden on consumers. Petrol and diesel prices are revised on a daily basis in line with benchmark international price and foreign exchange rates. 

In Mumbai, petrol price is just Rs 3.38 per litre short of touching the three-digit mark of Rs 100 per litre for the very first time ever. Petrol in Mumbai stood at Rs 96.62, up by 30 paise from yesterday's price. 

In Chennai, petrol inched up 27 paise to sell at Rs 92.25. Diesel was retailing at Rs 85.63 in the city. 

In Bangalore, petrol and diesel prices surged by 32 paise and 35 paise respectively to Rs 93.21 and Rs 85.44. In Kolkata, the retail price of petrol price was increased by 30 paise to Rs 91.41 per litre. 

The increase follows the firming global oil prices (both product and crude) that have maintained record streak of gains in past few days with crude prices crossing $65-a-barrel mark.

Since fuel prices are benchmarked to a 15-day rolling average of global refined products' prices and dollar exchange rate, pump prices can be expected to remain northbound over the next few days even if crude hovers at the current level.

Oil companies executives said that petrol and diesel prices may increase further in coming days as retail prices may have to be balanced in line with global developments to prevent OMCs from making loss on sale of auto fuels.

Fuel prices have been witnessing an upswing since January, leading to demands for a cut in excise duty. Earlier, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had said that the fuel prices had gone up because of a lower production in oil-producing nations in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in a meeting on February 3 decided to go on with the output curbs. 

Earlier, Pradhan ruled out any cut in excise duty, for now, to give relief to consumers from the spiralling retail prices of petrol and diesel which have touched all-time highs.

"There is no such proposal at present," he said in the Rajya Sabha when asked if the government was looking at cutting taxes to cool off prices. Rates have risen as international oil prices touched $61 per barrel for the first time in more than a year on improving demand outlook amid the global rollout of Covid-19 vaccines, he had said.

Earlier, during the budget speech, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the imposition of Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) of Rs 2.5 per litre on petrol and Rs 4 per litre on diesel.

Here are the fuel prices in your city today
 

Cities	Petrol	Diesel
Pune	Rs 96.07	Rs 86.21
Mumbai	Rs 96.62	Rs 87.32
Jaipur	Rs 96.36	Rs 88.63
Vijayawada	Rs 96.16	Rs 89.69
Bhopal	Rs 98.28	Rs 88.92
Hyderabad	Rs 93.78	Rs 87.55
Bengaluru	Rs 93.21	Rs 85.09
Patna	Rs 92.70	Rs 85.58
Chennai	Rs 92.25	Rs 85.31
Trivandrum	Rs 92.30	Rs 86.27
Kolkata	Rs 91.41	Rs 83.86
Bhubaneshwar	Rs 91.37	Rs 87.42
Delhi	Rs 90.19	Rs 80.60
Dehradun	Rs 89.16	Rs 81.30
Lucknow	Rs 88.63	Rs 80.45
Noida	Rs 88.45	Rs 80.70
Gurugram	Rs 87.92	Rs 80.85
Raipur	Rs 88.68	Rs 87.31
Panjim	Rs 88.21	Rs 85.09
Ahmedabad	Rs 87.62	Rs 85.83
Gandhinagar	Rs 87.37	Rs 86.81
Chandigarh	Rs 86.79	Rs 79.97