Petrol, diesel prices hit record high

Fuel prices continued to touch record highs across the country after state-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) increased the prices of petrol and diesel price for the 10th consecutive day on Thursday.

According to a price notification of state-owned OMCs, petrol price was hiked by 34 paise per litre and diesel by 32 paise. After Thursday’s price increase, petrol in Delhi costs Rs 89.88 per litre and diesel Rs 80.27. In Dimapur, petrol price crossed Rs.92-mark with a litre of petrol being sold at Rs.92.30. Diesel price, on the other hand, also crossed Rs.83-mark. A litre of petrol was priced at Rs. 83.21 per litre on Thursday. Likewise, in the state capital Kohima, petrol price crossed Rs.93-mark and diesel price inched closer to Rs.84 per litre. Petrol now costs Rs.93.23 per litre while diesel is priced at Rs.83.94 per litre. In 10 straight days, prices have gone up by Rs 2.93 per litre for petrol and Rs 3.14 per litre for diesel. 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 per cent of the retail selling price of petrol and over 54 per cent of diesel. The union government levies Rs 32.90 per litre of excise duty on petrol and Rs 31.80 a litre on diesel. Retail petrol rates have risen by Rs 20.29 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 17.98. The relentless hike in prices has been criticised by the opposition parties including the Congress, that has demanded an immediate cut in taxes to ease the burden on the common man. Pradhan last week had told Parliament that the government is not considering a reduction in excise duty to cool rates from their record highs.