Fuel prices drop for second day in a row across 4 metros; petrol down by 24 paise, diesel 11 paise per litre in Mumbai

Fuel prices provided relief to consumers for the second consecutive day on Friday. After Thursday’s fall of 21 paise in petrol prices, it was further slashed by another 24 paise in Mumbai to Rs 87.84 per litre. Diesel prices dropped by 11 paise to Rs 79.13 per litre on Friday. It fell by 11 paise on Thursday. In the national capital, petrol was being retailed at Rs 82.38 paise per litre as against Rs 82.62 a litre previously. A litre of diesel now costs Rs 75.48 as compared to Rs 75.58 previously. Before the 5 October price cut, petrol in Delhi had hit an all-time high of Rs 84 per litre and diesel was at a record Rs 75.45. This came down to Rs 81.50 per litre for petrol and Rs 72.95 in case of diesel. In Mumbai, petrol had hit a peak of Rs 91.34 hit on 4 October and diesel was sold at a record high of Rs 80.10. Prices in Kolkata on Friday reflected 23 paise drop in petrol and 10 paise in diesel at Rs 84.21 per litre and diesel being retailed at Rs 77.33 per litre. In Chennai, petrol was sold at Rs 85.63 per litre, down by 25 paise and diesel at R 79.82 per litre, down by 11 paise, according to Indian Oil Corporation. [caption id=“attachment_5244811” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The rates were reduced by a minimum Rs 2.50 per litre across the country on 5 October, when the government cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 a litre and asked oil PSUs to subsidise the fuels by another Re 1 a litre. The reduction in BJP-ruled states was more as they matched this cut by an equivalent reduction in local sales tax or VAT. After the Centre cut excise duty by Rs 1.50 per litre and asked PSU oil firms to subsidise fuel by Re 1, Maharashtra and Gujarat governments were among the first to announce a matching Rs 2.50 cut. They were later joined by Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Assam, Uttarakhand, Goa, Arunachal Pradesh and Bihar with similar moves. Jammu and Kashmir, which is under the governor’s rule, too reduced the tax on the two fuel. Maharashtra, however, reduced VAT only on petrol and not on diesel. Even before the excise duty cut, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh had last month reduced VAT to cushion consumers for a spate of price increases. The reduction in excise duty on October 5, only the second in four years of BJP-led NDA rule, will dent Central government revenues by Rs 10,500 crore and was aimed at cooling retail prices that had shot up to an all-time high. The BJP-government at the Centre had raised excise duty on petrol by Rs 11.77 a litre and that on diesel by Rs 13.47 a litre in nine instalments between November 2014 and January 2016 to shore up finances as global oil prices fell, but then cut the tax just once in October last year by Rs 2 a litre. Prior to 5 October cut, petrol price had risen by Rs 6.86 a litre and diesel by Rs 6.73 since mid-August. --With PTI inputs