WEB DESK
The retail price of petrol and diesel increased by 80 paise each in Delhi from 6 am on Monday, marking the first revision since December 1 2021 and PTI reported domestic cooking gas (or LPG) price was hiked by ₹ 50 per cylinder, quoting sources.
On Tuesday, a litre of petrol rose to ₹ 96.21 at the Rajdhani Service Station in Delhi, while diesel rates increased to ₹ 87.47 per litre, reflecting an 80 paise increase from petrol costs of ₹ 95.41 on Monday, while diesel rates stood at ₹ 86.67 per litre.
Petrol in Delhi will now cost ₹96.21 per litre as against ₹95.41 previously while diesel rates have gone up from ₹ 86.67 per litre to ₹87.47.
Simultaneously, the price of a non-subsidised LPG cylinder has been increased to ₹949.50 for each 14.2-kg bottle in the national capital.
While LPG rates were last revised on October 6, 2021, petrol and diesel prices had been on a freeze since November 4 as five States including Uttar Pradesh and Punjab went to polls.
LPG prices had gone up by close to ₹100 per cylinder between July and October 6, 2021, before criticism halted the revision in rates.
Both LPG and auto fuel prices had been on a freeze since then despite the cost of raw material spiralling, first because of demand returning with economies globally rebounding from the pandemic induced slowdown and then due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
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Non-subsidised cooking gas is the one that consumers buy after exhausting their quota of 12 cylinders at subsidised or below-market rates.
However, the government pays no subsidy on LPG in most cities and the price of the refill that consumers, including the poor women who got free connection under the much-talked Ujjwala scheme, is the same as non-subsidised or market price LPG.
Here are the petrol and diesel price across the metro cities:
Sources said a 5-kg LPG cylinder will now cost ₹349 while the 10 kg composite bottle will come for ₹669.
The 19-kg commercial cylinder now costs ₹2003.50.
Since June 2017, petrol and prices are to be adjusted daily in line with the benchmark international rate in the preceding 15 days.
But rates have been on the freeze since November 4, 2021, just after the Narendra Modi government cut excise duty on petrol by ₹5 per litre and that on diesel by ₹10 a litre to bring down rates from record-high levels. Most state governments too lowered local sales tax or VAT.
Before these tax reductions, petrol price had touched an all-time high of ₹110.04 a litre and diesel came for ₹98.42.
These rates corresponded to Brent soaring to a peak of $86.40 per barrel on October 26, 2021. Brent was at $ 82.74 on November 5, 2021, before it started to fall and touched $ 68.87 a barrel in December.