State-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) again increased the prices of petrol and diesel on Tuesday after one-day hiatus taking the prices of two auto fuels close to Rs.100-mark across the country.
According to a price notification of state-owned OMCs, the price of petrol was hiked by 28 paise per litre and diesel by 26 paise per litre.
Following today’s rate revision, petrol price in Dimapur hit an all-time high of Rs.96.16 per litre while diesel price rose to Rs.90.35 per litre. In the state capital Kohima, prices of petrol and diesel climbed to record highs of Rs.97.11 per litre and Rs.91.11 per litre respectively.
Petrol has already crossed Rs.100-mark in nine states and Union territories — Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, and Ladakh.
The hike on Tuesday was the 28th increase in prices since May 4. In 28 hikes, the price of petrol has risen by Rs 7.10 per litre and diesel by Rs 7.50 a litre.
Fuel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as value-added tax (VAT) and freight charges.
Oil companies revise rates of petrol and diesel daily based on the average price of benchmark fuel in the international market in the preceding 15 days, and foreign exchange rates.
According to PTI report, international oil prices have firmed up in recent weeks in anticipation of demand recovery following the rollout of vaccination programme by various countries. Brent crude on Tuesday neared USD 75 per barrel mark, the first time since April 2019.
Also, the rupee has weakened against the US dollar, making imports costlier.