Petrol price nears ₹ 80 in Delhi, almost ₹ 87 in Mumbai. Check today’s rates here

New Delhi: Prices of petrol and diesel continued to increase for the tenth consecutive day today as fuel rates touched a new record high. State-run oil companies increased the price of petrol by 16 paise and that of diesel by 19 paise a litre today.

In Delhi, a litre of petrol now costs ₹ 79.31, in Mumbai ₹ 86.72, Chennai ₹ 82.41 and Kolkata 82.22. Diesel costs ₹ 71.34/litre in Delhi, ₹ 75.74/litre in Mumbai, ₹ 75.39/litre in Chennai and ₹ 74.19/litre in Kolkata, according to daily price notification by oil marketing companies.

Led by a spike in global crude oil prices and a fall in rupee, the prices of both petrol and diesel are now at an all-time high.

Since 16 August, petrol prices have risen by over ₹ 2 per litre while diesel prices have been hiked by ₹ 2.61 per litre.

Retail prices of petrol and diesel in India track the global prices of these auto fuels, not crude, although they are broadly linked to crude oil price trends, which have firmed up.

Any rally in global crude oil price will impact India’s oil import bill and trade deficit as every dollar increase in oil prices would impact import bill by around ₹ 10,700 crore on an annual basis.

Since the prices of petrol and diesel vary from state to state due to local levies, Congress has demanded that fuel should also be brought under the ambit of goods and services tax (GST) immediately. “Relentless rise in prices of petrol and diesel is not inevitable. Because, the price is built up by excessive taxes on petrol and diesel. If taxes are cut, prices will decline significantly,” Congress leader and former finance minister P. Chidambaram said.

Arguing that one cannot blame the state government for rising prices, he said the Centre and states must act together and bring petrol and diesel under GST.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has blamed the Narendra Modi government for the spike. “Petrol will soon cost ₹ 100. They are going to hit a century. And, the rupee will also touch the century mark. You can then buy petrol paying a dollar,” he said.