New Delhi, Mar 24
New Delhi: Petrol and diesel prices were slashed on Wednesday by oil marketing companies, after they remained unchanged for 24 consecutive days. This is also the first reduction in rates in over a year. Prices were last reduced on March 16, 2020.Petrol price on Wednesday was cut by 18 paise per litre and diesel by 17 paise a litre. Petrol price was cut to Rs 90.99 a litre in Delhi from Rs 91.17 per litre, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. Diesel now comes for Rs 81.30 a litre in the national capital, down from Rs 81.47 previously. In Mumbai, the petrol price was cut to Rs 97.40 a litre on Wednesday from Rs 97.57 while diesel rates were reduced to Rs 88.42 from Rs 88.60, the price notification showed. Petrol prices have gone up by a record Rs 21.58 per litre in the last one year while diesel prices have increased by Rs 19.18 a litre.Central government makes up for Rs 32.98 per litre of the price of petrol in Delhi and sales tax or VAT of the state government constitutes Rs 19.55.
For diesel, the central excise adds up to Rs 31.83 and VAT to Rs 10.99. Besides, the price also includes a dealer commission of a minimum Rs 2.6 per litre on petrol and Rs 2 on diesel.Petrol and diesel prices are revised on a daily basis in line with benchmark international price and foreign exchange rates.Brent crude futures rose 27 cents, or 0.4%, to $61.06 a barrel by 0108 GMT, after tumbling 5.9% and hitting a low of $60.50 the previous day. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures climbed 19 cents, or 0.3%, to $57.95 a barrel, having lost 6.2% and touched a low of $57.32 on Tuesday. Both benchmarks touched their lowest levels since early February on Tuesday and have now fallen more than 14% from their recent highs earlier this month, a Reuters report said.
