Petrol costlier in India than in US, Pak, Lanka

Petrol in India costs more than it does in the US as well as neighbouring Pakistan and Sri Lanka, but is cheaper than in Europe.

Diesel rates on the other hand are the cheapest in India.

Petrol in the national capital costs Rs 68.46 per litre as compared to Rs 53.32 a litre in Pakistan, Rs 61.56 in Sri Lanka and Rs 62.25 in Bangladesh.

Nepal, which imports all of its fuel from India, sells petrol at Rs 74.77 per litre, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas R P N Singh said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.

Petrol in US costs Rs 50.44 per litre.

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But in Europe, the fuel is much costlier -- Rs 105.10 in France, Rs 111.03 in Germany, Rs 114.42 in United Kingdom and Rs 119.69 per litre in Italy.

Diesel price of Rs 41.32 a litre in New Delhi is lower than Rs 59.56 in Pakistan, Rs 41.36 in Sri Lanka, Rs 49.08 in Bangladesh and Rs 57.91 in Nepal.

In the US, diesel is priced at Rs 54.55 per litre, while it costs Rs 77.84 in France, Rs 83.36 in Germany, Rs 99.38 in UK and Rs 93.11 in Italy.

"Whereas the price of petrol in India is comparable to many of the countries, the price of diesel in India is lower in comparison to the neighbouring and European countries," Singh said.

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The difference in rates of petrol and diesel is most because of tax structure -- while the government levies Rs 14.78 per litre excise duty on petrol, the levy on diesel is just Rs 2.06 a litre.

Within India, petrol is costliest in Kolkata at Rs 76.15 due to high incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

It is lowest in Panjim where it is priced at Rs 57 per litre as Goa government does not levy any VAT on the fuel.

West Bengal government levies a VAT of 26.78 per cent while it is 20 per cent in Delhi. VAT makes up for Rs 10.94 in the Rs 68.46 per litre price of petrol in the national capital.

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Singh said petrol costs Rs 75.92 in Bengaluru, Rs 75.88 in Jalandhar, Rs 75.47 in Guwahati, Rs 75.43 in Hyderabad and Rs 75.15 in Mumbai.

Diesel, on the other hand, is costliest in Mumbai where a litre costs Rs 46.25.

Jalandhar has the cheapest priced diesel at Rs 39.97 per litre.

It costs Rs 45.89 in Gandhinagar, Rs 45.70 in Raipur, Rs 45.66 in Bhopal, Rs 45.11 in Bengaluru, Rs 45.10 in Patna and Rs 45.06 in Hyderabad, he said.

Chattisgarh levies 25 per cent VAT while Madhya Pradesh charges 24.23 per cent. 

In Mumbai, VAT is 24 per cent.

Delhi has a VAT of 13.29 while neighbouring Punjab and Haryana levy just 9.08 per cent and 9.24 per cent sales tax on diesel respectively.