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The prices of petrol and diesel have continued to be on freeze for the third straight month. The fuel prices have remained steady after rates were hiked by a record ₹10 per litre in a matter of 16 days beginning March 22. And, in an attempt to curb the soaring inflation, the government cut excise duty on petrol by ₹8 per litre and diesel by ₹6 per litre earlier in May this year.
Petrol price in Delhi today stands at ₹96.72 per litre from ₹105.41 per litre before the cut in excise duty, and diesel price stands at ₹89.62 per litre against its earlier price of ₹96.67. The cost of petrol in Mumbai is at ₹111.35 per litre and diesel is retailing at ₹97.28 per litre. Petrol price in Chennai stands at ₹102.63 per litre and diesel price today stands at ₹94.24 per litre. In Kolkata, petrol is retailing at ₹106.03 per litre and diesel at ₹92.76 per litre.
Meanwhile, cooking gas LPG price on Wednesday was hiked by ₹50 per cylinder, which was the eighth increase in rates in the last one year that took the cumulative rise to ₹244. The non-subsidised LPG now costs ₹1,053 per 14.2-kg cylinder in the national capital, up from ₹1,003 previously, as per a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.
Notably, firming international energy prices have led to non-subsidised cooking gas (LPG) prices increasing on eight occasions in the past year and in all, rates have gone up by ₹244 per cylinder or 30 per cent. The regular households pay non-subsidised rates for the cooking gas they buy after the government restricted subsidy to just poor beneficiaries who got connections under the Ujjwala scheme.
This is the fourth increase in the LPG rate since the Ukraine war and the price was hiked by ₹50 per cylinder on March 22 and again by the same quantum on May 7. Rates went up by ₹3.50 per cylinder on May 19. Additionally, of the ₹244 per cylinder hike in the past year, ₹153.50 increase happened since March 2022.
(With inputs from PTI)