Petrol price at record high of Rs 89.88 in Delhi, diesel crosses Rs 80-mark

Petrol price on Thursday touched a record high of Rs 89.88 in the national capital, two days after breaching the Rs 89-a-litre mark. Diesel price also surpassed Rs 80-mark in Delhi.

Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 34 paise and 32 paise per litre respectively on Thursday, according to a price notification from oil marketing companies. The diesel price stood at Rs 80.27. 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 a record high 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 the last 10 days (since February 9), the price has gone up by Rs 2.93 per litre for petrol while diesel rate has risen by Rs 3.14 a litre.

Across the country as well, the petrol and diesel price increase ranged between 30-35 paise per litre depending on the level of local taxes on the two petroleum products.

In Mumbai, petrol prices is just Rs 4 per litre short (Rs 96.32 a litre) of touching the three-digit mark of Rs 100 per litre for the very first time ever. 
 

In all other metros, petrol stood at over Rs 90-a-litre mark while diesel is well over Rs 80 a litre. Premium petrol has crossed Rs 100-per-litre mark in several cities of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

The increase on Thursday has followed 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.

The petrol and diesel prices have increased 22 times in 2021 with the two auto fuels increasing by Rs 6.17 and Rs 6.40 per litre respectively so far this year.

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 fuel prices in your city today