After keeping fuel prices unchanged on Tuesday, oil marketing companies raised petrol and diesel prices again on Wednesday, taking them to an all-time high. While petrol price was raised by 22-25 paise per litre in four major metro cities of the country, diesel prices were increased by 12-14 paise per litre.
A litre of petrol costs Rs 102.82 in Mumbai, Rs 97.91 in Chennai, Rs 96.66 in Delhi, and Rs 96.58 in Kolkata. For diesel, you will have to shell out Rs 94.84 per litre in Mumbai, Rs 92.04 in Chennai, Rs 90.25 in Kolkata and Rs 87.41 in Delhi.
With the 26th hike in fuel prices since May 4, petrol is selling at Rs 107.79 per litre in Rajasthan's Sri Ganganagar, while diesel costs Rs 100.51 per litre. Similarly, a litre of petrol and diesel cost Rs 105.16 and Rs 95.63, respectively, in Maharashtra's Parbhani. In Sehore in Madhya Pradesh, petrol costs Rs 104.63 per litre, while diesel costs Rs 95.85 per litre.
State-backed oil marketing companies decide fuel prices daily by factoring in state taxes, freight charges, international oil prices and foreign exchange rates.
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Fuel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as VAT and freight charges.
The continuous rise in fuel prices for the last few months have also raised concerns about higher inflation. Recently, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had said the rise in fuel prices is uncomfortable, but necessary.
"I accept that current fuel prices are problematic for people but be it central/state government, over Rs 35,000 crores have been spent on vaccines in a year...In such dire times, we're saving money to spend on welfare schemes," he had said.
Globally, oil prices rose nearly 1 per cent on Wednesday, with Brent gaining for a fifth consecutive session, as falling stockpiles and a recovery in demand kept the main benchmarks at multi-year highs.
Brent crude rose 66 cents, or 0.9 per cent, to $74.65 per barrel, the highest since April 2019, Reuters reported.
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