Relief for common man as fuel prices continue to follow downward curve

The prices of key transport fuels -- petrol and diesel -- continued to fall on Tuesday thanks to lower global crude oil prices.

According to the Indian Oil Corp data, petrol was priced at Rs 76.38 per litre in the national capital on Tuesday.

Petrol prices declined to Rs 81.90 per litre in Mumbai, Rs 78.33 in Kolkata and Rs 79.31 in Chennai on Tuesday.

In tandem with petrol, the cost of diesel declined by 12 to 13 paise on Tuesday across the four metros.

The price of diesel in Mumbai was down at Rs 74.66 per litre.

Similarly, prices of diesel in Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai declined to Rs 71.27 per litre, Rs 73.13 and Rs 75.31 a litre respectively.

As per the daily dynamic pricing regime, domestic fuel prices depend on international fuel prices on a 15-day average, besides the value of the rupee.

Prices vary from region to region due to local taxes, as the products are excluded from the GST regime. Delhi has the lowest tax rate among the four metros.

The downward revision also comes on the back of multiple factors such as lower international crude oil cost and a recovery in the rupee against the US dollar.

The United States recently softened its stand on Iran's sanctions and gave its nod to eight countries to continue importing oil from Iran temporarily. The list of countries includes India, China, South Korea, Japan, Turkey, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, and Taiwan.

Earlier last month, the Centre announced a cut in excise duty by Rs 1.50 a litre.

Additionally, the state-owned oil marketing companies had been mandated to reduce the prices of petrol and diesel by Re 1 a litre.