After a day of stability, petrol sees 19 paise hike to Rs 86.91/litre

After a day of stability, petrol continued to touch a fresh high on Thursday. It rose 19 paise in Mumbai to touch Rs 86.91 per litre.

Diesel rose 22 paise in Mumbai to Rs 75.96/litre, touching a fresh high after staying constant for two days on the trot, according to a price notification issued by Indian Oil Corporation.

Fuel prices vary from state to state depending on local sales tax or value added tax. As per the IOCL notification, the price hike in petrol was slightly higher in Delhi, up 20 paise to Rs 79.51/litre. The same for diesel was revised to Rs 71.55/litre, up 21 paise.

For Chennai, the price hike in petrol was similar to Delhi, where the rate touched Rs 82.62/litre against Wednesday’s price of Rs 82.41/litre. However, diesel rose slightly higher than that in the national capital, up 22 paise to Rs 75.61/litre.

Like Mumbai, Kolkata saw a petrol price hike of 19 paise at Rs 82.41/litre. The cost of diesel increased 21 paise to Rs 74.40/litre.

Fuel prices have been on a rise since mid-August, rising almost every day due to a combination of a drop in the dollar-rupee and rise in crude oil prices. The Opposition has been calling for a cut in excise duty to cushion the spike in fuel prices.

However, the Centre remains non-committal on cutting excise duty, citing volatile international oil prices. "There is no straight line movement in global crude oil prices. In April and May, there was a lot of pressure. In June, they came down. In July, they came down and in August, there is again (an upward) movement. In last two days, there has been some moderation. For six days before that, there was a gain," said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday.