New Delhi: Petrol and diesel prices continue their upwards journey amidst continuous calls for a cut in excise duty to ease the burden on consumers. In July 2014, the price of  petrol was Rs 73.60 per litre while diesel was at  Rs 57.84 per litre. At that time the Indian Basket Crude Oil was USD 106.30 per barrel.


COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

On Monday (May 21, 2018), the petrol price touched a record high of Rs 76.57 per litre and diesel climbed to its highest ever level of Rs 67.82 as the oil PSUs passed on four weeks of relentless rise in international oil prices to consumers. The Indian Basket Crude Oil is at USD 79.13 per barrel.


(Also Read: Petrol, diesel price on 21th May 2018)


This is the eight straight day of price increase since oil PSUs on May 14 resumed daily price revision after a 19-day pre-Karnataka poll hiatus. In all, petrol price has been raised by Rs 1.94 a litre and diesel by 1.89 in last one week.


The central government levies Rs 19.48 a litre of excise duty on petrol and Rs 15.33 per litre on diesel. State sales tax or VAT vary from state to state. In Delhi, VAT on petrol is Rs 15.84 and Rs 9.68 a litre on diesel.


Brent crude futures were at USD 79.13 per barrel at (0121 GMT) on Monday (May 21), up 62 cents, or 0.8 percent, from their last close. Brent broke through USD 80 for the first time since November 2014 last week.

Fuel prices in India are affected by any change in the international market. The chart below mentions the price of Indian basket crude oil along with Retail Selling Price (RSP) of Petrol and Diesel, in Delhi in July 2014.


Year/Month Indian Basket Crude Oil (USD /bbl.) Petrol (Rs/Litre) Diesel (Rs/Litre)
July, 2014 106.30 73.60 57.84

 


Chart courtesy: Pib



While the government is hoping that geopolitical tension would ease and US shale oil would help ease oil prices, it is not in favour of tinkering with the autonomy given to oil PSUs to revise rates daily in line with the cost.


State-owned oil companies in June 2017, dumped the 15-year old practice of revising rates on 1st and 16th of every month and instead adopted a dynamic daily price revision to instantly reflect changes in cost.


Here's looking at how both petrol and diesel prices have fluctuated in the last five years


Petrol Prices in 4 metro cities in the since 2014 (Chart price as per 1st of every month)


Month Delhi Kolkata Mumbai Chennai
May 01, 2017 68.09 70.68 77.46 71.17
April 01, 2017 66.29 68.97 72.66 69.28
January 02, 2017 70.60 73.13 76.91 70.07
December 01, 2016 66.10 68.81 72.46 65.58
November 06, 2016 67.62 70.24 74.00 67.13
October 01, 2016 64.58 67.61 71.00 64.13
September 01, 2016 63.47 66.84 68.40 63.02
August 01, 2016 61.09 64.97 65.70 60.65
July 01, 2016 64.76 67.79 69.32 64.24
June 01, 2016 65.60 68.46 70.18 65.04
May 01, 2016 62.19 65.73 66.71 61.64
April 05, 2016 61.87 65.48 67.96 61.32
March 01, 2016 56.61 62.32 62.75 56.08
February 01, 2016 59.95 64.84 66.05 59.42
January 01, 2016 59.35 65.12 66.40 59.77
December 01, 2015 60.48 65.93 67.55 60.80
November 01, 2015 60.70 66.11 67.77 61.02
September 01, 2015 61.20 66.50 68.25 61.46
August 01, 2015 64.47 69.15 69.51 64.77
July 01, 2015 66.62 74.09 74.52 69.84
June 16, 2015 66.93 74.42 74.78 70.12
May 01, 2015 63.16 70.44 70.84 66.08
April 02, 2015 60.00 67.48 67.53 62.75
March 01, 2015 60.49 67.92 68.14 63.31
February 04, 2015 56.49 64.60 63.90 58.88
January 17, 2015 58.91 66.64 66.36 61.38
December 01, 2014 63.33 70.73 70.95 66.05
November 01, 2014 64.24 71.68 71.91 67.01
October 01, 2014 67.86 75.46 75.73 70.87
August 01, 2014 72.51 80.30 80.60 75.78
July 01, 2014 73.60 81.43 81.75 76.93
June 01, 2014 71.51 79.36 80.11 74.71


Diesel Prices in 4 metro cities in the since 2014


Month Delhi Kolkata Mumbai Chennai
May 01, 2017 57.35 59.61 63.12 60.71
April 01, 2017 55.61 57.86 61.27 58.82
January 02, 2017 57.82 60.06 63.61 59.47
December 01, 2016 54.57 56.81 60.17 56.10
November 06, 2016 56.41 58.67 62.15 58.02
October 01, 2016 52.51 54.83 58.03 53.98
September 01, 2016 52.94 55.15 58.48 54.43
August 01, 2016 52.27 54.57 57.47 53.73
July 01, 2016 54.70 56.89 60.00 56.25
June 01, 2016 53.93 56.13 59.21 55.44
May 01, 2016 50.95 52.97 56.61 51.78
April 05, 2016 49.31 51.58 56.09 50.09
March 01, 2016 46.43 49.57 53.06 47.13
February 01, 2016 44.68 48.04 51.22 45.33
January 01, 2016 45.03 48.80 52.16 46.25
December 01, 2015 46.55 50.10 53.78 47.77
November 01, 2015 45.93 49.55 53.11 47.10
September 01, 2015 44.45 48.23 49.51 45.56
August 01, 2015 46.12 49.66 51.29 47.30
July 01, 2015 50.22 54.75 57.64 53.52
June 16, 2015 50.93 55.45 58.37 54.29

(Chart source: IOCL, some months are missing on IOCL list)