Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: State-owned oil companies on Sunday slashed the prices of perol and diesel by 91 paise and 84 paise respectively, to be effective from midnight tonight.
With the international brent oil prices falling to a four-year low below $76 dollars a barrel, it was widely expected that oil prices in India would be cut too.
With the cut in the prices, petrol in Delhi will now cost Rs 63.33, down 91 paise from 64.24 from Monday.
In Kolkatta it will cost Rs 70.68, down 95 paise from 71.68 while in Mumbai, it will cost 70.95, down 96 paise from 71.91 and in Chennai petrol will now cost Rs 66.05, down 95 paise from 67.01.
As for the diesel, it will now cost Rs 52.51 in Delhi, Rs 57.08 in Kolkatta, Rs 60.11 in Mumbai and Rs 55.93 in Chennai.
On October 31, the government had cut the price of petrol by Rs 2.41 a litre whereas the price of diesel was slashed by Rs 2.25 per litre.
However, in the mid of November, the government increased excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 a litre while retail prices did not go up as oil companies offset the hike against an expected reduction on account of falling global oil rates.
The duty hike will boost government revenue by about Rs 13,000 crore on an annual basis and help contain budget deficit.
Excise duty on normal or unbranded petrol was hiked from Rs 1.20 per litre to Rs 2.70 per litre and unbranded diesel from Rs 1.46 a litre to Rs 2.96, a government notification said.
The same on branded petrol was raised from Rs 2.35 a litre to Rs 3.85 and on branded diesel from Rs 3.75 to Rs 5.25 per litre.
With PTI Inputs
