NEW DELHI :
Petrol and diesel prices were left unchanged for the 18th day today by state-run fuel retailers but in some cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata, the rates have been hiked by Re 1- ₹1.5 a litre from this month due to a hike in VAT by the state governments.
In Mumbai and Kolkata, the hike has been of Re 1 for both petrol and diesel while in Bengaluru, the price of petrol is up by ₹1.58 a litre and diesel by ₹1.55 a litre.
In Delhi, a litre of petrol is priced at ₹69.59 per litre and diesel at ₹62.29 per litre today. In Mumbai, petrol is selling at ₹76.31 per litre and diesel at ₹66.21 per litre. In Chennai, a litre of petrol will cost ₹72.28 per litre whereas diesel is now priced at ₹65.71 per litre. In Bengaluru, petrol is now selling at ₹73.55 and diesel at ₹65.96. In Hyderabad, petrol pumps are charging ₹73.97 for petrol and ₹67.82 for diesel. If you are in Gurgaon, you will have to shell out ₹70.21 for petrol and ₹62.08 for diesel. In Kolkata, petrol pumps are charging ₹73.30 for petrol and ₹65.62 for diesel.
From this month, fuel retailers have started supplying BS-VI grade fuel, equivalent to Euro-VI fuel. The ₹35,000 crore upgrade would have led to a Re 1 hike in fuel rates but the cost was absorbed by the ongoing slump in crude oil rates.
After having soared 21% yesterday, Brent crude futures fell 3% to $29.05 today. So far this year, oil rates are down by 60% due to the coronavirus pandemic slashing demand even as Saudi Arabia and Russia said they would boost output in April amid their price war, raising the prospect of a flooded market.
Analysts said even if Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed to cut production by as much as 15 million bpd, that would not be enough to balance the market in face of a deep economic recession.
(Inputs from agencies)
