Another surge in fuel prices in India, 10th hike in 12 days
Fuel is set to be bit more costlier in India with yet another surge on Saturday as petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 80 paise a litre.
This is the tenth hike the country is witnessing in 12 days after there was no change in the prices for four months since November. The government has been stressing that the rise in prices is linked to the Ukraine war, which has led to multiple sanctions against Russia. The opposition has been hitting out at the government over the increase in petrol and diesel prices, questioning the timing, as the surge comes after the end of assembly elections in five states – the BJP retained four of them.
The fresh rise takes the total increase in prices to ₹7.20 a litre, according to news agency PTI. Notably, the per litre cost of petrol and diesel varies from state to state depending upon the local taxation.
In Delhi, petrol will now cost ₹102.61 per litre and diesel will sell for ₹93.87 per litre after fresh surge. In Mumbai, the country’s financial capital, the price of both petrol and diesel has gone up 85 paise. Petrol will be sold at ₹117.57 per litre while diesel at ₹101.79 per litre.
In Kolkata, the price of petrol and diesel has increased by 84 paise and 80 paise and they will be sold at ₹112.19 per litre and ₹97.02 per litre respectively. In Chennai, the petrol and diesel prices per litre stood at ₹108.21 and ₹108.21, after a hike of ₹76 paise.
On Thursday, fuel prices rose by 80 paise, taking the total hike to ₹6.40 a litre – this was the ninth hike. Fuel prices remained unchanged on Friday.
There was a pause in the revision of fuel prices from November last year, which was broken on March 22 following the crude oil increase in the wake of the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The prices will increase further because of the sharp jump in crude oil prices in international markets. On November 3, 2021, the centre had cut excise duty by ₹5 per litre on petrol and ₹10 per litre on diesel to bring down the retail prices across India.
The Congress has launched countrywide protests over the fuel price hike.