Fuel prices hiked again; petrol past Rs 110 in Hyderabad, Rs 111 in Mumbai

Fuel prices continue their upward spiral, rising for the fourth straight day on Sunday, October 17. Following the latest price hike by state-owned oil marketing companies, petrol has become costlier by 34-35 paise and diesel by 35-37 paise.

In Delhi, a litre of petrol now costs Rs 105.84 per litre, while diesel is retailing at Rs 94.57 a litre. In Mumbai, petrol price has climbed to Rs 111.77 per litre, whereas diesel is priced at Rs 102.52 a litre.

This is the 15th hike in petrol price and the 18th increase in diesel rate since the last week of September. In Kolkata, petrol and diesel now cost Rs 106.43 and Rs 97.68 per litre.

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In Chennai, a litre of petrol is priced at Rs 103.1 a litre and diesel costs Rs 98.92 per litre. In Bengaluru, petrol costs Rs 109.53 a litre while diesel is priced at Rs 100.37 per litre, and in Hyderabad, a litre of petrol is now available at Rs 110.09 and diesel is retailing at Rs 103.08 per litre.

Fuel prices in India have seen a 35% increase over the past 15 months, with several protests and opposition outcry over the continued rise.

"The Modi Government's actions in raising petrol and diesel prices is plain and simple extortion. To express it in numbers, the increase translates to an inconceivable 820% hike in excise duty on diesel and a 258% increase in excise duty on petrol (since 2014). The Modi Government has collected massive windfall gains, in excess of Rs 18,00,000 crore," Congress said on Saturday.

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

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

Shedding the modest price change policy, state-owned fuel retailers have since October 6 started passing on the larger incidence of cost to consumers.

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This is because the international benchmark Brent crude is trading at USD 84.8 per barrel for the first time in seven years.

A month back, Brent was trading at $73.51. 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 rates on September 28 for petrol and September 24 for diesel. Since then, diesel rates have gone up by Rs 5.6 per litre and petrol price has increased by Rs 4.30 a litre.

Prior to that, the 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 a litre during this period.