Retail selling prices have been firming up since July 30 as international rates inched up.
Petrol
prices have crossed the Rs 77 a litre mark for the first time in
two months due to firming international rates.
Petrol
price in Delhi was on Tuesday hiked by 9 paisa a litre to Rs 77.06
while diesel rates went up by 6 paisa to Rs 68.50 per litre,
according to daily price notification issued by state-owned oil
firms.
Fuel
prices in Delhi are the cheapest in all metros and most state
capitals due to lower sales tax or VAT.
Retail
selling prices have been firming up since July 30 as international
rates inched up. Rates have risen by Rs 0.90 a litre in case of
petrol in nine days while diesel
prices have risen by Rs 0.88 per litre.
Petrol
price had touched an all-time high of Rs 78.43 a litre on May 29 and
had since receded. On that day, the diesel price had touched an
all-time high of Rs 69.30.
Petrol
was last above the Rs 77-mark on June 9 when it was priced at Rs
77.02 a litre in Delhi. On that day, diesel was priced at Rs 68.28
per litre.
State-owned
oil firms had in mid-June last year dumped 15-year practice of
revising rates on 1st and 16th of every month in favour of daily
price revisions.
High
prices have off-and-on triggered demands for a reduction in excise
duty but the government had ruled out any immediate cut.
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 fuel.
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.
This
led to its excise collections from petro goods more than doubling in
last four years - from Rs 991.84 billion in 2014-15 to Rs 2290.19
billion in 2017-18. States saw their VAT revenue from petro goods
rise from Rs 1371.57 billion in 2014-15 to Rs 1840.91 billion in
2017-18.
Article Source BS
