In certain parts of Madhya Pradesh, the price of diesel has surpassed Rs 100 per litre, while Sikkim has become the latest state to experience a Rs 100 per litre petrol price following yet another increase in fuel prices. According to a price announcement from state-owned fuel retailers, the price of petrol has increased by 35 paise per litre and the price of diesel has climbed by 18 paise per litre.
The increase – 34th in petrol and 33rd in diesel in two months – pushed rates across the country to fresh highs. In Delhi, petrol now comes for Rs 99.51 a litre and diesel is priced at Rs 89.36 per litre. Fuel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as value-added tax (VAT) and freight charges.
And for this reason, petrol has crossed the Rs 100-a-litre mark in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Bihar, Punjab and Ladakh. Sikkim joined that list on Sunday. Petrol in the state capital Gangtok is now priced at Rs 100.15 a litre and diesel comes for Rs 91.55. Petrol has crossed Rs 100 a litre mark in metro cities of Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune and it is over Rs 99 in the other two cities of Delhi and Kolkata.
Rates of diesel, the most used fuel in the country, have crossed the Rs 100-a-litre mark in Sri Ganganagar and Hanumangarh in Rajasthan as well in some places in Odisha. And on July 4, Rewa, Shahdol and Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh saw those levels. The hike is the 34th increase in the price of petrol and 33rd in the case of diesel since May 4, when state-owned oil firms ended an 18-day hiatus in rate revision they observed during assembly elections in states like West Bengal.
In 34 hikes, the price of petrol has risen by Rs 9.11 per litre. Diesel rates have soared by Rs 8.63 a litre in 33 instances of a price increase. Oil companies revise rates of petrol and diesel daily based on the average price of benchmark fuel in the international market in the preceding 15 days, and foreign exchange rates.
International oil prices have climbed in recent weeks on optimism of a quick recovery in fuel demand. Brent crude touched the USD 75 per barrel mark, the first time since April 2019.
