Petrol price cut by Rs 1.27 a litre; diesel by Rs 1.17

Petrol price was on Friday cut by Rs 1.27 a litre and diesel by Rs 1.17 a litre, the second reduction in rates this month following global cues.

The new rates will be effective Saturday, said the nation’s largest oil firm, Indian Oil Corp (IOC), in a statement. Petrol in Delhi will cost Rs 63.20 a litre from Saturday against Rs 64.47 a litre currently. A litre of diesel will cost Rs 44.95 as compared to Rs 46.12 currently.

Rates were last cut on August 1 when petrol price was reduced by Rs 2.43 per litre and diesel by Rs 3.60 a litre.

“Prices of petrol and diesel were last revised with effect from August 1. Since the last price change, there has been a decrease in international prices of both petrol and diesel. INR-USD exchange rate has, however, depreciated during this period. Combined impact of both these factors warrants a downward revision in prices, the impact of which is being passed on to the consumers with this price decrease,” IOC said in the statement.

Last month, petrol price was cut on July 1 by 31 paise and diesel by 71 paise. This was followed by a Rs 2 per litre cut in rates of petrol and diesel, excluding local sales tax, from July 16. But the Delhi government had raised value added tax.

As a result, petrol price in Delhi went up by 28 paise a litre after hike in VAT or sales tax on the fuel from 20 to 25 per cent.

Rates of diesel, on which VAT was raised from 12.5 per cent to 16.6 per cent, saw a smaller reduction of 50 paise per litre. “The movement of prices in international oil market and INR-USD exchange rate shall continue to be monitored closely and developing trends of the market will be reflected in future price changes,” Indian Oil Corporation said.