Petrol price skyrockets to Rs.80.38/ litre in Delhi

Delhi woke up to a crude shock today as fuel prices hit a new lifetime high after they witnessed yet another hike across the country. Petrol prices went up by 39 paisa per litre and Diesel prices saw an upward trend of 44 paisa per litre in Delhi. With the latest hike in prices, Petrol crossed the Rs 80/litre mark in the national capital.

A litre of petrol in Delhi now costs Rs 80.38 - a record high. It costs Rs 87.77 in Mumbai. Diesel is now priced at Rs 72.51 a litre in Delhi and Rs 76.98 per litre in Mumbai.

Nationwide strikes have been announced by the opposition parties across the country next week over record-high fuel prices which they blame on high taxes imposed by the government.

On Wednesday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had remained non-committal on cutting excise duty to cushion spiralling petrol and diesel prices, saying international oil prices are volatile and have not shown any linear movement.

Opposition Congress has demanded that the Centre cut excise duty as was done by previous governments, which cut rates whenever international oil prices shot up.

Almost half of the retail selling price of the two fuel is made up of central and state taxes. Prices have been on fire since mid-August, rising almost every day due to a combination of a drop in rupee value and rise in crude oil rates.

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 percent 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.

Prices in Delhi are the cheapest in all metros and most state capitals due to lower sales tax or VAT.