Petrol price cut by 6 paise across metros, at Rs 78.29 a litre in Delhi

After 16 days of a continuous hike, fuel prices were cut by 1 paise on Wednesday, and 7 paise on Thursday.

Prices for petrol and diesel fell 6 paise and 5 paise per litre respectively on Friday.

In Delhi, petrol now costs Rs 78.29 per litre, while the price of diesel has been revised to Rs 69.20 a litre.

Revised petrol prices in other metro cities are, Rs 80.92 in Kolkata, Rs 86.10 in Mumbai and Rs 81.28 in Chennai.

Diesel was being sold at Rs 71.75 in Kolkata, Rs 73.67 in Mumbai and 73.06 in Chennai on Friday.

Sources said the government may ask state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) to bear fuel subsidy to help cut petrol and diesel prices, as it is does not want to cut excise duty, PTI reported.

After 16 days of a continuous hike, fuel prices were cut by 1 paise on Wednesday, and 7 paise on Thursday.

The central government levies a duty of Rs 19.48 a litre on petrol and Rs 15.33 per litre on diesel, while states collect sales tax and VAT which ranges from 26% to over 47% (Mumbai) of the fuel cost that consumers pay.

Over the 16 days of hike, fuel prices had gone up Rs 3.63, as oil marketing companies (OMCs) passed on the burden of high global oil prices to consumers in a staggered manner. The government had halted an increase in fuel prices for a 19-day period till May 14, ahead of Karnataka election results.

Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan had last week said the Centre is mulling an ‘immediate solution’ to unprecedentedly high fuel prices.

“The oil ministry is of the view to bring petroleum products under the purview of the GST in order to bring down the prices of petrol and diesel. We are deliberating on an immediate solution to this problem till that time. We will certainly find a way out to deal with the situation,” Pradhan told reporters.