Fuel on fire! Petrol, diesel rates soar to record high

After two days of lull, petrol and diesel prices on Wednesday were again hiked by 35 paise per litre each, pushing rates to new highs across the country.

The price of petrol in Delhi rose to its highest-ever level of Rs 106.19 a litre and Rs 112.11 per litre in Mumbai, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.

In Mumbai, diesel now comes for Rs 102.89 a litre; while in Delhi, it costs Rs 94.92.

The rate hike comes after two days of no changes. Prior to that, for four straight days prices were hiked by 35 paise per litre each.

With this rise, petrol is now at Rs 100-a-litre mark or more in all state capitals while diesel has touched the level in over a dozen states. Diesel crossed the Rs 100-a-litre mark in Panaji and Ranchi.

The costliest fuel is in the border town of Ganganagar in Rajasthan where petrol comes for Rs 118.23 a litre and diesel for Rs 109.04.

Since ending of a three-week long hiatus in rate revision in the last week of September, this is the 17th increase in petrol price and the 20th time that diesel rates have gone up.

While petrol price in most of the country is already above Rs 100-a-litre mark, diesel rates have crossed that level in over a dozen states/UT including Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Kerala, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Goa and Ladakh.

Prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes.

International benchmark Brent crude is trading at $84.43 per barrel on Wednesday for the first time in seven years.

A month back, Brent was trading at $73.92.

Being a net importer of oil, India prices petrol and diesel at rates equivalent to international prices.

The surge in international oil prices ended a three-week hiatus in rate revision on September 28 for petrol and September 24 for diesel.

Since then, diesel rate has gone up by Rs 6.50 per litre and petrol price has increased by Rs 5.

Prior to that, petrol price was increased by Rs 11.44 a litre between May 4 and July 17. Diesel rate had gone up by Rs 9.14 during this period.

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