New Delhi, Feb 16 :
Petrol price on Tuesday soared to Rs 99.87 per litre in Rajasthan – the highest level India has ever seen – as fuel prices were hiked for the eighth day in a row.
Petrol price was raised by 30 paise per litre and diesel by 35 paise, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.
Simultaneously, the oil firms hiked cooking gas (LPG) price by Rs 50 per cylinder and that of jet fuel (ATF) by 3.6 per cent.
LPG now comes for Rs 769 per 14.2-kg cylinder in the national capital.
The increase in petrol and diesel prices pushed retail rates, which differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT and freight charges, to their highest level.
In Delhi, petrol now comes for Rs 89.29 per litre and diesel for Rs 79.70.
Rates are higher in states that levy higher VAT.
In Mumbai, petrol price rose to Rs 95.75 a litre and diesel was priced at Rs 86.72.
Rajasthan, which levies the highest VAT on fuel in the country, had the highest petrol and diesel prices.
In Sriganganagar town of the state, petrol soared to Rs 99.87 and diesel jumped to Rs 91.86 per litre.
While branded/premium or additive mixed petrol is already over Rs 100-mark at some places in three states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the Rs 99.87 a litre price of regular petrol is the highest that the country has ever seen.
This is despite the Rajasthan government late last month cutting VAT on petrol and diesel by 2 per cent. VAT on petrol at 36 per cent plus Rs 1.5 per litre road cess is still the highest in the country. On diesel, the state levies 26 per cent and Rs 1.75 per litre road cess.
Branded petrol at Sriganganagar was priced at Rs 102.65 a litre and similar grade diesel at Rs 95.52.
Branded petrol is priced at Rs 92.12 per litre in Delhi and same grade diesel at Rs 82.99.
The oil firms raised aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price by Rs 1,942.5 per kilolitre, or 3.6 per cent, to Rs 55,737.91 per kl in the national capital.
While petrol and diesel prices are revised on a daily basis, LPG and ATF rates are revised on 1st and 16th of every month.
In eight straight days, prices have gone up by Rs 2.34 per litre for petrol and Rs 2.57 for diesel.
The relentless hike in prices has been criticised by the opposition parties, including the Congress that has demanded an immediate cut in taxes to ease the burden on the common man.
Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan last week had told Parliament that the government is not considering a reduction in excise duty to cool rates from their record highs.
Central and state taxes make up for 60 per cent of the retail selling price of petrol and over 54 per cent of diesel.
The Union government levies Rs 32.90 per litre of excise duty on petrol and Rs Rs 31.80 a litre on diesel.
Retail petrol rates have risen by Rs 19.70 per litre since mid-March 2020 after the government raised taxes by a record margin to mop up gains arising from fall in international oil prices. Diesel rates have gone up by Rs 17.41.
