Fuel prices see marginal rise, check December 18 rates here

Fuel saw a marginal rise in prices on Monday with petrol retailing at Rs 70.63 per litre and diesel at Rs 64.54 per litre in the national capital, respectively. In Mumbai, petrol and diesel were being sold at Rs 76.25 per litre and 67.55 per litre, respectively. In Chennai, petrol was retailing at Rs 73.29 per litre and diesel Rs 68.14 per litre. In Kolkata, petrol was sold at Rs 72.71 per litre and diesel at Rs 66.30 per litre. Petrol was retailing at Rs 71.48 a litre in Gurugram, while diesel at Rs 64.49 a litre. In Noida and Faridabad, petrol was being sold for Rs 70.45 a litre and Rs 71.69, respectively. While, diesel was retailing at Rs 63.88 a litre and Rs 64.71 in Noida and Faridabad, respectively.

It may be noted that the recent fall in the value of rupee against the US dollar has offset gains from the falling crude oil prices. The rupee has fallen over 3 per cent in the last few days. Worth mentioning here is that crude prices have fallen by over 30 per cent since early October when it was at $86 per barrel, making a forecast of $100 crude by January look true, and the rupee has also gained strength. The twin factors, therefore, have brought down retail fuel rates to two-month low. Retail fuel prices in India depend on both international oil price and the rupee-dollar exchange rate. Also, the pump price of petrol and diesel is dependent on the global rates of benchmark fuel and the rupee-US dollar exchange rate. Brent crude futures were around $61 per barrel mark on Friday after rising nearly 2 per cent on Thursday. 

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Fuel prices are retailing at the lowest level since the all-time high in October. Prices were slashed by almost Rs 14 wiping off the massive hikes in two months beginning August 16. Petrol in Delhi was priced at Rs 77.14 per litre and in Mumbai, it cost Rs 84.58 on August 15. Diesel on that day was priced at Rs 68.72 per litre in Delhi and at Rs 72.96 in Mumbai. Between August 16 and October 4, petrol price was hiked by Rs 6.86 per litre and diesel by Rs 6.73. 

Petrol price had touched a record high of Rs 84 per litre in Delhi and Rs 91.34 in Mumbai on October 4. Diesel on that day had peaked to an all-time high of Rs 75.45 a litre in Delhi and Rs 80.10 in Mumbai. 

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On October 4, the government decided to cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 per litre each and asked state-owned fuel retailers to subsidise the price by another Re 1 a litre by reducing their margins.  Subsequent to this, the petrol price came down to Rs 81.50 per litre in Delhi and diesel to Rs 72.95 a litre on October 5. In Mumbai, rates fell to Rs 86.97 per litre for petrol and Rs 77.45 in case of diesel. 

Before the price cut, petrol in Delhi had hit an all-time high of Rs 84 per litre while diesel was at record Rs 75.45. This came down to Rs 81.50 per litre for petrol and Rs 72.95 in case of diesel.