New Delhi: Petrol and diesel rates have been kept unchanged on Wednesday by the oil marketing companies. Fuel prices have witnessed sporadic rise in the last few days.
Petrol price inched towards the Rs 100-mark in Mumbai on Tuesday after fuel rates were hiked again. Petrol price was increased by 23 paise per litre and diesel by 25 paise a litre, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. The hike - 13th this month - pushed petrol and diesel prices to record-high levels across the country.
Petrol price in Delhi rose to Rs 93.44 a litre and diesel to Rs 84.32 a litre. In Mumbai, petrol price climbed to Rs 99.71 a litre and diesel to Rs 91.57 per litre. Rates had already crossed the Rs 100-mark in several cities in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and with the latest increase, the price in Mumbai too was inching towards that level.
But why are fuel prices constantly on the rise?
Fuel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as VAT and freight charges. Rajasthan levies the highest value-added tax (VAT) on petrol in the country, followed by Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
The excise tax levied by the Central and state government one of the reasons behind fuel price hike.
Fuel rates in the international market determine the rates of oil prices in India. When global fuel prices go up, OMCs hike prices in the country.
Will fuel prices continue to rise?
Under daily price revision, OMCs revise petrol and diesel prices every morning benchmarking retail fuel prices to a 15-day rolling average of global refined products` prices and dollar exchange rate.
With global crude prices rising again to around $69 a barrel mark, OMCs may have to keep revising prices upwards for some more time.
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