Daily News Capsule

Petrol and diesel are hiked by 26 paise and 29 paise per litre rounding up the new price as Rs.88.99 and Rs.79.35 respectively. This was informed by oil marketing companies and be applicable from Monday onwards.

In the capital, petrol prices touched Rs.88.14 per litre on Friday, making it the highest mark of all time.

Whereas in Mumbai, petrol prices were recorded Rs. 95.46 compared to yesterday which was rs. 95.21. And diesel was priced at Rs. 86.34 in the same city.

In Chennai, petrol and diesel touched new rates as Rs. 91.19 and Rs. 84.44 respectively.

Another major city in the country Bangalore, price of petrol and diesel are now Rs. 91.27 and Rs. 84.12  after prices surged by  27 paise and 31 paise respectively.

Reason for the Hike

According to the government, increased rates are the result of oil price touching $61 per barrel for the first time in history. It is due to the increase in demand amid the coronavirus outbreak globally. To compensate for the time being, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has refused to cut any slack on excise duty. In order to give relief to the consumers, to get balanced with the all-time high prices of Petrol and Diesel.

Central and state taxes total add up to 61 per cent of the retail market by selling price of petrol and about 56 per cent of diesel. The union government levies Rs 32.9 per litre of excise duty on petrol and Rs Rs 31.80 a litre on diesel. Retail petrol rates have risen by around Rs 19.16 per litre since last year in March after the government raised taxes by a record margin to mop up gains arising from fall in international oil prices. Diesel rates have gone up by Rs 16.77.