Petrol, diesel prices raised again

New Delhi, March 31: State-owned oil marketing companies (OMC) on Thursday raised the prices of petrol and diesel for the ninth time in the last 10 days. These prices were revised for the very first time on March 22, after a gap of more than four months. Notably, the selling price includes state levies, central excise and cess, amongst others.

In New Delhi, the prices were increased again by 80 paise per litre. As per pump prices, petrol now costs Rs 101.81 per litre and diesel Rs 93.07 per litre in the national capital. In the financial capital Mumbai, prices were hiked to Rs 116.72 per litre for petrol and diesel to Rs 100.94 per litre.

Till March 22, fuel prices were steady since November 2021 when the Centre reduced excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 5 and Rs 10 per litre, respectively. The OMCs revise the transportation fuel cost based on various factors such as rupee to US dollar exchange rate, cost of crude oil and demand of fuel amongst others.

Resultantly, the final price includes excise duty, value added tax and dealer's commission. It was widely expected that the OMCs will revise the current prices due to high crude oil cost. Lately, crude oil prices have been volatile on fears of tight supplies due to sanctions against Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.

The crude oil price range is a cause of concern for India as it may ultimately add Rs 10-15 in petrol and diesel selling prices. At present, India imports nearly 85 per cent of its crude oil requirements.