NEW DELHI: Petrol and diesel prices on Thursday neared record levels across the country after rates were hiked by 25 paise and 30 paise a litre respectively.
The price of petrol was hiked to Rs 101.64 a litre in Delhi and to Rs 107.71 per litre in Mumbai, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. Diesel rates increased to Rs 89.87 a litre in Delhi and Rs 97.52 in Mumbai. Prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes. This is the second price increase in petrol since the ending of a three-week-long hiatus in rate revision and the fifth in the case of diesel. The hike took the retail price of petrol to a near-record high. Petrol had hit a record high of Rs 101.84 a litre in Delhi in July and Rs 107.83 in Mumbai.
For diesel, the increase led to rates equalling the all-time high of Rs 89.87 a litre touched in Delhi in the same month. International oil prices are at three year high with global benchmark Brent trading at USD 78.64 per barrel. This spurt in global rates led state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) resuming daily price revisions on September 24, ending the pause in rates that came into effect from September 5. In five price increases since September 24, diesel rates have gone up by 1.25 paise per litre, negating all of the price reductions that happened between July 18 and September 5. Petrol price has increased by 50 paise per litre in two instalments this week. Before this, diesel price was last increased on July 15.
The last increase in petrol rate was on July 17. International crude oil prices have reached a nearly three-year high as global output disruptions have forced energy companies to draw more crude oil out of their stockpiles. When international oil rates fell in July and August, retail prices of petrol and diesel in the Delhi market were reduced by Rs 0.65 and Rs 1.25 per litre. Prior to that, the petrol price was increased by Rs 11.44 a litre between May 4 and July 17.
Diesel rate had gone up by Rs 9.14 during this period. The price hike during this period pushed petrol prices above the Rs 100-a-litre mark in more than half of the country, while diesel crossed that level in at least three states.
India is dependent on imports to meet nearly 85 per cent of its oil needs and so benchmarks local fuel rates to international oil prices.
