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New Delhi, March 26 (IANS): State-owned oil marketing companies (OMC) on Saturday raised petrol and diesel prices for the fourth time this week.
These prices were revised for the very first time on Tuesday, March 22, after a gap of more than four months.
Accordingly, the increase in selling price which includes state levies, central excise and cess amongst others, came days after crude oil prices saw astronomical rise due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
In New Delhi, the price of petrol and diesel were increased again by 80 paise per litre.
As per pump prices, petrol now costs INR 98.61 per litre and diesel INR 89.87 per litre in the national capital.
On Friday, petrol prices were increased to INR 97.81 per litre and diesel INR 89.07 per litre in Delhi.
In the financial capital Mumbai, prices were hiked to INR 113.35 per litre for petrol and diesel to INR 97.55 per litre.
Besides, the prices of both the transport fuels were raised in Kolkata. The petrol prices rose to INR 108.01 and diesel to INR 93.01 per litre.
In Chennai too, they were increased. Petrol there now costs INR 104.43 and diesel INR 94.47 per litre.
Till Tuesday, fuel prices were steady since November 2021 when the Centre reduced excise duty on petrol and diesel by INR 5 and INR 10 per litre, respectively.
The OMCs revised the transportation fuel cost based on various factors such as rupee to US dollar exchange rate, cost of crude oil and demand of fuel amongst others.
Resultantly, the final price includes excise duty, value added tax and dealer's commission.
It was widely expected that the OMCs will revise the current prices due to high crude oil cost.
Lately, crude oil prices have been volatile surging by nearly 35-40 per cent on fear of tight supplies.
Furthermore, it is feared that current sanctions against Russia will curtail more global supplies and stifle growth.
The crude oil price range is a cause of concern for India as it may ultimately add INR 15-25 in petrol and diesel selling prices.
At present, India imports nearly 85 per cent of its crude oil requirements.