Petrol price in the national capital was hiked by Rs 1.67 a litre on Tuesday and diesel by a steep Rs 7.10 per litre after the Delhi government raised local sales tax or value-added tax (VAT) on the two fuels.

Petrol in Delhi now costs Rs 71.26 a litre as against Rs 69.59 previously, oil industry sources said.

This follows Delhi government’s decision to raise VAT on petrol to 30 per cent from 27 per cent, previously. In case of diesel, VAT has been almost doubled to 30 per cent from 16.75 per cent.