The revised rates of petrol and diesel in Delhi stood at Rs 82.44/litre and Rs 73.87/litre respectively.
Fuel prices continued to soar yet again on Saturday. The revised rates of petrol and diesel in Delhi stood at Rs 82.44/litre and Rs 73.87/litre respectively. On the other hand, petrol prices which reached an all-time high of Rs 89.69/litre, were hiked by 11 paise/litre in Mumbai and the revised rate stood at Rs 89.90/litre. However, diesel price remained unchanged at Rs 78.42/litre.
Since the start of the calendar year, the petrol price in Delhi has gone up by 15.4 per cent from Rs 69.97 on January 1, 2018. The hike in diesel price has been steeper. It has gone up by 22 per cent since January 1 when it cost Rs 59.70.
The spiraling fuel prices have severely affected the household budget of the common man and Opposition has also been targeting the government over the issue. However, the BJP-led NDA government remains non-committal over slashing the rates.
The Centre currently levies a total excise duty of Rs 19.48 per litre of 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 6 per cent sales tax is charged on both the fuels
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 instalments 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.
