Fuel prices all time high: Petrol at Rs 80.87/litre in Delhi, Rs 88.26/litre in Mumbai

Petrol and diesel prices saw a hike for the sixth straight day on Tuesday as oil marketing firms again revised fuel prices across the country.

Bharat Bandh Protest over rising Fuel Price: Petrol prices were hiked by 14 paise in both Delhi and Mumbai, while diesel saw an increase of 14 paise in Delhi and expanded by 15 in Mumbai.

Petrol now costs Rs 80.87 per litre, up from Rs 80.73, in Delhi and Rs 88.26 per litre, up from Rs 88.12, in Mumbai. Similarly, Diesel prices have been increased from Rs 72.83 to Rs 72.97 per litre in Delhi and from Rs 77.32 to Rs 77.47 in Mumbai.

Rising fuel prices in the country have been an issue of friction between the government and the opposition parties for the past couple of days.

Opposition parties are demanding a cut in the excise duty on petrol and diesel and bringing fuel under the ambit of GST.

At least 20 Opposition parties led by Congress staged a Bharat Bandh across the country to protest against the rising fuel prices and falling value of the rupee.

Opposition parties like the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS), led by the Congress party, took part in the protests. Left parties staged a separate shutdown of their own.

Fuel Prices Scaling new heights

Petrol

City	New rates (Rs)	Previous rates (Rs) (on Sep. 10)	Hike (paise)
Delhi	80.87	80.73	14
Mumbai	88.26	88.12	14

Diesel

City	New rates (Rs)	Previous rates (Rs) (on Sep. 10)	Hike (paise)
Delhi	72.97	72.83	14
Mumbai	77.47	77.32	15

↓↓↓ Check other city fuel prices ↓↓↓

Petrol and Diesel Price

Petrol and Diesel excise duty may be cut Rs 2-4/litre; PMO to take final call

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is expected to meet oil-marketing companies on Wednesday to take stock of the situation

 

Latest News : The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) will take a final call on a cut in the excise duty on petrol and diesel, according to senior officials, with surging fuel prices creating ripples among consumers and politicians alike. The cut is likely to be in the range of Rs 2 to Rs 4 a litre, they added.

Petrol and diesel prices touched new highs of Rs 76.87 and Rs 68.08 a litre, respectively, in Delhi on Tuesday. In the Mumbai market, prices of petrol at Rs 84.70 a litre and diesel at Rs 72.48 were the highest ever.

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is expected to meet oil-marketing companies on Wednesday to take stock of the situation. It is likely that the government may ask Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) to freeze prices as a temporary arrangement.

“The PMO has been provided data and inputs from OMCs. For the last one week, discussions have been going on regarding an excise duty cut, and a decision is imminent,” said a finance ministry official.

Talks are also on to reimburse the dealers their commission. When the global oil prices were down, the government had hiked the excise duty on fuel nine times, between November 2014 and January 2016, but reduced it only once, in October last year.

Finance Ministry officials said Rs 130-140 billion in losses per Rs 1 cut in excise duty on petrol and diesel was expected. “A duty cut of Rs 2 will amount to Rs 260-280 billion in losses. At a cut of Rs 4 a litre, the hit could be as high as Rs 520-560 billion,” an official said.

The Centre’s budgeted estimate in revenues from petrol and diesel duties was Rs 2.43 trillion for 2018-19.A hit to revenue collections due to an excise duty cut could impact the fiscal situation this year, which has come under pressure just two months into 2018-19 because of high crude oil prices. The total fiscal deficit target for the year is Rs 6.24 trillion or 3.3 per cent of gross domestic product. Assuming all other factors, sources of revenue, and expenditure commitments remain constant, a maximum hit of Rs 560 billion could lead to a fiscal deficit of Rs 6.80 trillion, or 3.6 per cent of the 2018-19 nominal GDP projection of Rs 187.2 trillion.

Another option before the government is to convince the states on bringing petrol and diesel under the GST regime. A decision on this rests with the GST Council. “We are following international prices based on an average of the last 15 days.

We believe all petroleum products should come under the goods and services tax (GST),” said Sanjiv Singh, chairman of IOC. If prices sustain within the $60-80 a barrel mark, fuel subsidy for the financial year may exceed the budgeted Rs 250 billion. The Indian basket crude oil price was $77.04 a barrel on Tuesday. On the other hand, the Brent crude price was seen at $79.62 a barrel at one point.

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