New Delhi: Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 80 paise a litre each on Wednesday, taking the total increase in rates in 16 days to Rs 10 per litre. Petrol in Delhi will now cost Rs 105.41 per litre as against Rs 104.61 previously while diesel rates have gone up from Rs 95.87 per litre to 96.67, according to a price notification of state fuel retailers.
Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending upon the incidence of local taxation. This is the 14th increase in prices since the ending of a four-and-half-month long hiatus in rate revision on March 22. In all, petrol and diesel prices have gone up by Rs 10 per litre each. There had been a pause in the revision of fuel prices since November 4 last year, which was broken on March 22, following the crude oil going upwards in the wake of the Russian military operations in Ukraine.
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Prices are set to be raised further given the sharp jump in crude oil prices in the international markets. It will have a cascading impact on the prices of other items and lead to inflationary pressure and hurt growth while also impacting the prices of other items. Meanwhile, Congress is holding a nationwide protest campaign 'Mehngai Mukt Bharat Abhiyan' against price rises under which it is organising rallies and marches across the country till April 7.
Notably, on November 3 last year, the Centre had cut excise duty by Rs 5 per litre on petrol and Rs 10 per litre on diesel to bring down the retail prices across the country. Following this, several state governments had reduced Value-Added Tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel to provide relief to people.
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with Agency inputs
