For the seventh day in a row fuel prices have been increased. Petrol price was increased by 59 paise per litre and diesel price has been increased by 58 paise as oil companies adjusted retail rates in line with costs.
Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 75.16 per litre from Rs 74.57, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 73.39 a litre from Rs 72.81. In seven hikes, petrol price has gone up by Rs 3.9 per litre and diesel by Rs 4. Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.
The freeze in rates was imposed in mid-March soon after the government hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel to shore up additional finances. Oil PSUs Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL), instead of passing on the excise duty hikes to customers, adjusted them against the fall in the retail rates that was warranted because of a decline in international oil prices.
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