Petrol, diesel prices see biggest cut in last 10 days

New Delhi: Fuel prices saw the biggest reduction in the last ten days. The reduction in fuel prices come after an upward spiral after a 19-day pause during the pre-Karnataka poll hiatus. Petrol price has dropped by Re 1 a litre and diesel by 72 paisa in the last ten days.

Petrol in Delhi today costs Rs 77.72 and diesel by Rs 68.58, a reduction of 21 and 15 paise respectively from Thursday's prices. Petrol prices in Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai cost Rs 80.07, Rs 80.37 and Rs 85.24 respectively while that of diesel is at Rs 71.13, Rs 72.40 and 73.02 respectively.

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 varies from state to state. Unlike excise duty, VAT is ad valorem and results in higher revenues for the state when rates move up. Prices in Delhi are the lowest among all metros and most state capitals due to lower sales tax or VAT.

The government is in no mood to review the daily price mechanism. 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.

Under the dynamic pricing scheme, petrol and diesel prices are revised on a daily basis in sync with global crude oil prices.

Ruling out a daily price review of petrol and diesel, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan recently asked state governments to tax petrol and diesel within a reasonable and responsible band and not continue to reap bonanza from rising oil prices.

With Agency Inputs