Petrol price cut by 21 paise

Team Udayavani, Nov 4, 2018, 2:49 PM IST

New Delhi: Petrol price has been cut by over ₹4 per litre and diesel by ₹2.33 in the last 18 days on softer international rates, a pace faster than the spike in prices witnessed in the two-month period beginning mid-August.

Petrol price on Sunday was cut by 21 paise a litre and diesel by 17 paise, according to a price notification issued by state-owned fuel retailers.

In Delhi, petrol now costs ₹78.78 per litre while diesel is priced at ₹73.36, it said. Petrol in Mumbai costs ₹82.28 and diesel ₹76.88.

With this, the reduction in rates in last 18 days now totals ₹4.05 per litre for petrol and ₹2.33 for diesel.

Rates have been on the decline since October 18.

Petrol price had touched a record high of ₹84 per litre in Delhi and ₹91.34 in Mumbai on October 4. Diesel on that day had peaked to ₹75.45 a litre in Delhi and ₹80.10 in Mumbai.

Prices had started to climb from August 16.

Petrol in Delhi was priced at ₹77.14 and in Mumbai at ₹84.58 per litre on August 15. Diesel on that day was priced at ₹68.72 per litre in Delhi and ₹72.96 in Mumbai.

Between August 16 and October 4, petrol price was hiked by ₹6.86 per litre and diesel by ₹6.73.

On that day, the government decided to cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by ₹1.50 per litre each and asked state-owned fuel retailers to subsidise the price by another ₹1 a litre by reducing their margins.

Subsequent to this, the petrol price came down to ₹81.50 per litre in Delhi and diesel to ₹72.95 a litre on October 5. In Mumbai, rates fell to ₹86.97 per litre for petrol and ₹77.45 in case of diesel.

As the international oil prices continued to rise, price of petrol and diesel in Delhi increased to ₹82.83 and ₹75.69 on October 17. In Mumbai, rates touched ₹88.29 a litre for petrol and ₹79.35 for diesel.

But since then, international oil prices have been falling and rupee has also appreciated, resulting in decline in retail rates. Industry sources said as per the assessment, the retail prices of petrol and diesel may reign easy in the next few days.

The retail selling price of petrol and diesel is dependent on the international prices of benchmark fuel and the rupee-US dollar exchange rate. This is because a large proportion of country’s requirement is met through imports.