Mumbai: Fuel prices in India were hiked on Monday by state oil marketing companies even as international oil prices remained largely stable. On Sunday, prices were left unchanged after 21 consecutive days of upward revision.
On 29 June, petrol prices per litre were raised to Rs 80.43 in Delhi, Rs 87.19 in Mumbai, Rs 83.63 in Chennai, Rs 83.04 in Bengaluru and Rs 82.10 in Kolkata.
Diesel prices per litre were raised to Rs 80.53 in Delhi, Rs 78.83 in Mumbai, Rs 77.72 in Chennai, Rs 76.58 in Bengaluru and Rs 75.64 in Kolkata.
The upward revision in prices in the last three weeks adds to the consumer’s increased burden of state and central government taxes paid on fuel. The central and state governments, along with oil marketing companies are looking to make up for their loss in revenues due to the lockdown and slowdown in economic activity.
On 4 May, the Delhi government had increased VAT on both the fuels to 30 percent. For diesel, it was an increase from 16.75 percent earlier causing an increase of Rs 7.10 per litre, which is much higher than the impact on petrol that was imposed with a state VAT of 27 percent earlier, increasing its rate by Rs 1.67 a litre.
Additionally, the central government had increased the excise duty on per litre of petrol by Rs 10 and per litre of diesel by Rs 13. In fact, several state governments have also hiked their VAT or cess on fuel in the last month. In fact, now around 70 percent of the retail price of fuel is just some form of tax.
