Petrol prices remained stable for the ninth consecutive day, while diesel remained unchanged for ten days in a row on Monday, July 26. Petrol prices had touched new high levels across the country on 17 July after rising by 30 paise, according to Indian Oil Corporation, the country’s largest fuel retailer.
Today, a litre of petrol in Delhi is being retailed at Rs 101.84 and diesel at Rs 89.87. In Mumbai, a litre of petrol and diesel will cost Rs 107.83 and Rs 97.45. Currently, fuel prices are highest in Mumbai among all metro cities.
The revision on 17 July had added up to Rs 11.15 for petrol and Rs 10.80 for diesel since May. The hike on July 17 was the 41st price hike in petrol since May 4 when fuel rates started increasing after the elections. It was also the 9th hike of the month. The prices were hiked 16 times in June.
Petrol prices have already crossed the Rs 100-mark in more than 20 states and union territories – Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir, Odisha, Manipur, Ladakh, Bihar, Punjab and others. Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan has the costliest petrol and diesel in the country with petrol selling at Rs 113.21 and diesel at 103.15 per litre. Petrol and diesel prices changes every day at 6 am on the basis of international crude prices and foreign exchange rates.
Fuel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as VAT and freight charges. Central and state taxes make up for 60% of the retail selling price of petrol and over 54% of diesel. The union government levies Rs 32.90 per litre of excise duty on petrol. Rajasthan levies the highest value-added tax (VAT) on petrol in the country, followed by Madhya Pradesh.