The price of petrol in Mumbai on Tuesday touched Rs 80.25 per litre for the first time since August 2014 after fluctuations in the United States dollar and the restart of some oil fields in Libya caused the market to waver, the Financial Express reported.
The price of petrol is Rs 75.09 per litre in Kolkata, Rs 75.06 in Chennai and Rs 72.38, Indian Oil announced. Diesel was being sold for 67.30 per litre in Mumbai, while the price in Kolkata is Rs 65.86. In Chennai, diesel price is Rs 66.64 per litre and in Delhi it is Rs 63.20.
Wary of this increase in prices, the Oil Ministry is pushing for a cut in excise duty on petrol and diesel in the 2018-’19 Budget, Reuters quoted two officials in the ministry as saying on Monday. “We can only recommend,” a senior official told the news agency. “It is up to the Finance Ministry to make a decision.”
The government raised excise duty nine times between November 2014 and January 2016 as global oil prices declined. It then reduced the excise duty in October 2017 by Rs 2 per litre. Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had told PTI on January 18 that the government was non-committal about slashing excise duty on petrol and diesel, but was keeping a close watch on the situation.
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