Petrol and diesel rates were further hiked across the four metro cities on Sunday. This means that fuel prices hit further record highs on Sunday. A litre of petrol now costs Rs. 80.50 in New Delhi, Rs. 83.39 in Kolkata, Rs. 87.89 in Mumbai, and Rs. 83.66 in Chennai, according to IOC's website. A litre of diesel costs Rs. 72.61 in New Delhi - the highest ever. In Kolkata, diesel is priced at Rs. 75.46/ litre, in Mumbai Rs. 77.09/ litre, and Rs. 76.75/ litre in Chennai. Petrol and diesel prices are raised on a daily basis according to global crude oil prices and the movement of the rupee against the US dollar.
"The fuel price hike mainly is due to the depreciation of rupee against the dollar. Petrol and diesel should come under the purview GST and I accept that people are facing problems. Once petrol and diesel are brought are GST, everyone will be benefited," said Union petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday, according to a report by ANI. Petrol and diesel prices do not come under the purview of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Since mid-August, petrol price has risen by Rs 3.42 a litre and diesel by Rs 3.84 per litre as rupee hit record low against the US dollar, making imports costlier.
The Centre currently levies a total of Rs. 19.48 per litre of excise duty on petrol and Rs. 15.33 per litre on diesel. On top of this, states levy Value Added Tax (VAT) - the lowest being in Andaman and Nicobar Islands where a 6 per cent sales tax is charged on both the fuels.
Mumbai has the highest VAT of 39.12 per cent on petrol, while Telangana levies the highest VAT of 26 per cent on diesel. Delhi charges a VAT of 27 per cent on petrol and 17.24 per cent on diesel.
The Central government had raised excise duty on petrol by Rs 11.77 a litre and that on diesel by 13.47 a litre in nine installments between November 2014 and January 2016 to shore up finances as global oil prices fell, but then cut the tax just once in October last year by Rs 2 a litre.
(With agency inputs)
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