Petrol price hits 4-year high, diesel at highest level under Modi government

Prices of diesel touched an all-time high of Rs 64.58 per litre, while petrol rates hit a four-year high of 73.33 in the national capital.

The last time when the petrol prices were higher was under UPA rule in September 2013 when it was Rs 76.06 per litre in the city.

The prices have been continuously increasing after Modi government’s move in June 2017 to auto revise fuel prices on a daily basis.

The Oil Ministry had earlier this year sought a reduction in excise duty on petrol and diesel to cushion the impact of rising international oil rates.

However, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget presented on February 1 ignored those calls.

As compared to other South Asian nations, retail prices of petrol and diesel are the highest in India as taxes account for half of the pump rates.

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Jaitley had raised excise duty nine times between November 2014 and January 2016 to shore up finances as global oil prices fell, but cut the tax just once in October 2017.

Subsequent to that excise duty reduction, the Centre had asked states to also lower VAT but just four of them—Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh—reduced rates while others including BJP-ruled ones ignored the call.

The government had between November 2014 and January 2016 raised excise duty on petrol and diesel on nine occasions to take away gains arising from plummeting global oil prices.

In all, duty on petrol rate was hiked by Rs 11.77 per litre and that on diesel by 13.47 a litre in those 15 months that helped government’s excise mop up more than double to Rs 242,000 crore in 2016-17 from Rs 99,000 crore in 2014-15.

(With inputs from agencies)