Petrol inches towards Rs 100/litre in Mumbai

Petrol price on Friday inched closer to the Rs 100-a-litre mark in Mumbai while diesel crossed the Rs 91 mark after oil companies raised rates again.

Petrol price was increased by 19 paise per litre and diesel by 29 paise a litre, according to a price notification by state-owned fuel retailers.

The hike -- 11th this month -- pushed petrol and diesel prices to all-time high levels across the country.

In Delhi, petrol rates climbed to Rs 93.04 a litre and diesel rose to Rs 83.80.

Rates had already crossed the Rs 100-mark in several cities in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and with the latest increase, the price in Mumbai too was inching towards that level.

A litre of petrol in Mumbai now comes for Rs 99.32 and diesel is priced at Rs 91.01 per litre.

Fuel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as VAT and freight charges.

Rajasthan levies the highest value-added tax (VAT) on petrol in the country, followed by Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Oil companies revise rates of petrol and diesel daily based on average price of benchmark fuel in the international market in the preceding 15-days, and foreign exchange rates.

This is the 11th increase in prices since May 4, when the state-owned oil firms ended an 18-day hiatus in rate revision they observed during assembly elections in states like West Bengal.

Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan had the costliest petrol and diesel in the country at Rs 104 per litre and Rs 96.62 a litre, respectively.

In 11 increases, petrol price has risen by Rs 2.64 per litre and diesel by Rs 3.07.

Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters