At the current rate of rise, petrol and diesel prices in India will soon breach Rs 100-mark across the country. On Monday, the prices of petrol and diesel were hiked by 26 paise and 29 paise a litre respectively.
The fuel prices were hiked for the seventh consecutive day. Following Monday's hike, petrol now costs Rs 88.99 a litre in Delhi while diesel is available for Rs 79.35. In Mumbai, petrol price now stands at Rs 95.46 while diesel is retailing at Rs 86.34. The fuel prices are presently retailing at their record highs in the country.
In a double whammy move, the price of non-subsidised liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) domestic cylinders was also hiked by Rs 50 per cylinder in Delhi on Sunday. A 14.2 kg gas cylinder in the national capital will now cost Rs 769 (for non-subsidised cylinders) from 12 AM Monday onwards. This is the second price hike in the month of February.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday termed the hike in LPG cylinder prices as "looting from the public".
The relentless hike in prices has been criticised by the opposition parties, including Congress that has demanded an immediate cut in taxes to ease the burden on the common man.
However, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan last week had told Parliament that the government is not considering a reduction in excise duty to cool rates from their record highs.
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.
Central and state taxes make up for over 61 per cent of the retail selling price of petrol and about 56 per cent of diesel.
The Union government levies Rs 32.9 per litre of excise duty on petrol and Rs Rs 31.80 a litre on diesel.
Retail petrol rates have risen by Rs 19.16 per litre since mid-March 2020, after the government raised taxes by a record margin to mop up gains arising from fall in international oil prices. Diesel rates have gone up by Rs 16.77.
In Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar district, petrol soared to Rs 99.56 and diesel jumped to Rs 91.48 per litre. This is the highest retail price of auto fuels across the country. Rajasthan, which levies the highest VAT on fuel in the country, had the highest petrol and diesel prices. In Sriganganagar town of the state, petrol soared to Rs 99.29 and diesel jumped to Rs 91.17 per litre.
This pushed retail rates, which differ from state to state depending on incidence of local sales tax or VAT and freight charges, to their highest level.
The Rajasthan government had late last month cut VAT on petrol and diesel by 2 per cent. Despite this, the state has the highest VAT at 36 per cent plus Rs 1,500 per kilolitre road cess on petrol. On diesel, the state levies 26 per cent and Rs 1,750 per kl road cess.
Branded or premium petrol at Sriganganagar was priced at Rs 102.07 a litre and similar grade diesel at Rs 94.83.
The main difference between regular and premium fuel grades is the octane number. Regular fuel has a lower octane number—87, while premium fuel generally gets a 91 octane rating or higher.
Octane number is a measure of the ignition quality of fuel—higher the number, the less susceptible is the fuel to 'knocking' when burnt in a standard engine.
