OMCs keep petrol, diesel prices unchanged for 13th day in a row

The oil marketing companies (OMCs) kept fuel prices unchanged for the 13th consecutive day on Wednesday. Earlier on November 4, the government had slashed excise duty on petrol and diesel to bring rates slightly down from the record-high levels.

Currently, the cost of one litre of petrol in Delhi stands at Rs 103.97 per litre and of diesel at Rs 86.67 per litre. In Mumbai, the petrol and diesel prices stand at Rs 109.98 per litre and Rs 94.14 per litre, respectively.

After the excise rates were cut, several states and Union Territories also announced a cut in VAT rates on petrol and diesel, giving a big relief to consumers.

On Tuesday night, the Congress government in Rajasthan also announced to slash VAT to make petrol and diesel cheaper by Rs 4 per litre and Rs 5 per litre. respectively, from midnight. This will result in annual revenue loss of Rs 3,500 crore to the state, news agency PTI reported.

Oil companies revise rates of petrol and diesel daily based on the average price of benchmark fuel in the international market in the preceding 15-days, and foreign exchange rates.

The prices of petrol and diesel are reviewed by oil marketing companies such as state-run Indian Oil on a daily basis and any revision is implemented from 6 am.

Fuel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as VAT and freight charges.

Globally, oil prices settled mixed on Tuesday, as prospects of tight inventories worldwide were offset by forecasts of a production increase in coming months and concerns over rising coronavirus cases in Europe, according to news agency Reuters.