India

India: Petrol price hits highest level under BJP govt, diesel at record high


New Delhi, Apr 22 (PTI) Petrol price in India on Sunday hit INR 74.40 a litre ( 1 litre equals approx. 0.26 gallons) – the highest level under the BJP-led government, while diesel rates touched a record high of INR 65.65, renewing calls for cut in excise duty to ease burden on consumers

State-owned oil firms, which have been since June last year revising auto fuel prices daily, on Sunday raised petrol and diesel rates by 19 paisa per litre each in Delhi, according to a price notification

The hike, necessitated due to firming international oil prices, comes on back of a 13 paisa increase in rates of petrol effected on Saturday and a 15 paisa hike in diesel, it said

Petrol in the national capital now costs INR 74.40 a litre ( 1 litre equals approx. 0.26 gallons) , the highest since September 14, 2013 when rates had hit INR 76.06. Diesel price at INR 65.65 are the highest ever

Oil Ministry had earlier this year sought a reduction in excise duty on petrol and diesel to cushion the impact arising out of international oil rates but Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget presented on February 1 made no concessions

India has the highest retail prices of petrol and diesel among South Asian nations as taxes account for half of the pump rates.

Jaitley had raised excise duty nine times between November 2014 and January 2016 to shore up finances as global oil prices fell, but then cut the tax just once in October last year by INR 2 a litre. ( 1 litre equals approx. 0.26 gallons).

Subsequent to that excise duty reduction, the Union government had asked states to also lower VAT but just four of them – Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh reduced rates while others including BJP-ruled ones ignored the call

The Central government had cut excise duty by INR 2 per litre ( 1 litre equals approx. 0.26 gallons) in October 2017, when petrol price reached INR 70.88 per litre in Delhi and diesel INR 59.14

Because of the reduction in excise duty, diesel prices had on October 4, 2017 came down to INR 56.89 per litre and petrol to INR 68.38 per litre. However, a global rally in crude prices pushed domestic fuel prices far higher than those levels

The October 2017 excise duty cut cost the government INR 26,000 crore in annual revenue and about INR 13,000 crore during the remaining part of the current fiscal year

The government had between November 2014 and January 2016 raised excise duty on petrol and diesel on nine occasions to take away gains arising from plummeting global oil prices

In all, duty on petrol rate was hiked by INR 11.77 per litre ( 1 litre equals approx. 0.26 gallons) and that on diesel by 13.47 a litre ( 1 litre equals approx. 0.26 gallons) in those 15 months that helped government’s excise mop up more than double to INR 242,000 crore in 2016-17 from INR 99,000 crore in 2014-15

State-owned oil companies – Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation – in June last year dumped the 15-year old practice of revising rates on the 1st and 16th of every month . Instead, they adopted a daily price revision system to instantly reflect changes in cost. Since then prices are revised on a daily basis.


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