Petrol and diesel prices were hiked for the second consecutive day on July 8 taking fuel prices across metropolitan cities to historic highs. The 37th increase in two months has taken petrol price in Delhi to an all-time high of Rs 100.56, while diesel retails at Rs 89.62.
The national capital is the last of the metro cities to see petrol rising above the Rs 100-a-litre mark. Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Pune already have prices above that mark.
The increase pushed petrol price to Rs 106.59 a litre in Mumbai and diesel to Rs 97.18 per litre. The city, on May 29, became the first metro in the country where petrol was being sold at over the Rs 100-a-litre mark.
With the increase in fuel prices on July 8, people in Kolkata now have to shell out Rs 100.62 for a litre of petrol and Rs 92.65 per litre for diesel.
With the latest revision, the price of petrol in Chennai increased to Rs 101.37 per litre, while that of diesel reached to Rs 94.15 per litre in Tamil Nadu’s capital.
Fuel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as VAT and freight charges. Rajasthan levies the highest VAT on petrol and diesel in the country, followed by Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Petrol has crossed the Rs 100-a-litre mark in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Bihar, Punjab, Ladakh, Sikkim and Pondicherry.
Diesel, the most used fuel in the country, is above that level in some places in Rajasthan, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh.
The hike on July 8 is the 37th increase in the price of petrol since May 4, when state-owned oil firms ended an 18-day hiatus in rate revision they observed during assembly elections in states like West Bengal.
Oil companies revise rates of petrol and diesel daily based on the average price of benchmark fuel in the international market in the preceding 15 days, and foreign exchange rates.
Meanwhile, CNG rates were also hiked on July 8. According to Indraprastha Gas, CNG prices in Delhi have been revised from Rs 43.40 per kg to Rs 44.30 per kg from July 8.