The price of petrol touched an all-time high of Rs 87.07 per litre in Bengaluru on Thursday, after state-owned fuel retailers Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) resumed daily price revision after nearly a month-long hiatus on Wednesday. Diesel was priced at Rs 78.87 per litre in Bengaluru on Thursday, which is also the highest-ever in the city.
Petrol price on Thursday was hiked by 23 paise per litre and diesel by 26 paise a litre, according to a price notification from oil marketing companies.
In Hyderabad, the price of petrol was at Rs 87.59 per litre, and diesel was Rs 81.17 per litre on Thursday. The highest prices of fuel the city has recorded was back in October 2018.
In Vijayawada, petrol was priced at Rs 89.96, as per Indian Oil. Diesel was priced at Rs 83.10 per litre. In Visakhapatnam, petrol was priced at Rs 89.13 litre and diesel at Rs 82.28 per litre.
In Chennai, the price of petrol was Rs 86.96 per litre and diesel was Rs 79.72. Chennai also saw its highest fuel prices in October 2018.
Petrol price on Thursday scaled to an all-time high of Rs 84.20 per litre in the national capital as well after state-owned fuel retailers hiked rates for the second day in a row.
In Delhi, petrol now costs Rs 84.20 per litre and diesel is priced at Rs 74.38. In Mumbai, petrol comes for Rs 90.83 a litre and diesel for Rs 81.07.
This is the highest ever price of petrol in Delhi, while diesel is at record high in Mumbai.
Price had been raised by 26 paise per litre for petrol and 25 paise on diesel on Wednesday.
The previous highest ever rate of Rs 84 a litre for petrol in Delhi was touched on October 2018. At the time, diesel too had scaled to an all-time high of Rs 75.45 a litre.
The government had responded to the situation at the time by cutting excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 per litre in a bid to ease inflationary pressure and boost consumer confidence. Alongside, state-owned fuel retailers cut prices by another Re 1 a litre, which they recouped later.
However, no tax cut is under consideration as of present, a senior government official told PTI on Wednesday.
Though petrol and diesel rates are to be revised on a daily basis in line with benchmark international price and foreign exchange, government-controlled fuel retailers have been moderating rates since the pandemic broke out.
The reduction in price warranted from the slump in international oil rates because of demand erosion beginning March 2020 was not passed on to customers.
While the government promptly passed on an increase in sales tax by state governments such as the one in Delhi, they adjusted a steep increase in excise duty by the central government against the reduction in retail price warranted.
The government raised excise duty by Rs 13 per litre on petrol and by Rs 15 a litre on diesel in two instalments in March 2020 and May 2020 to garner additional revenue of Rs 1.6 lakh crore.
That adjustment of rate revision against excise duty hike resulted in a 52-day status quo in prices between March 17, 2020, and June 6, 2020. This was followed by no change in rates between June 30, 2020, and August 15, 2020, and 58-day hiatus in petrol price revision and 48-day status quo on diesel rates from September 22, 2020, and October 2, 2020, respectively.
Rates were again frozen after the last revision on December 7, 2020.
Since May 2020, petrol price has risen by Rs 14.54 per litre and diesel by Rs 12.09 a litre, price notifications of oil companies showed.
With PTI inputs