The diesel price saw a decline of 60 paise per litre between August 18 and August 20. The price cut took the fuel price to Rs 89.27.
India is near 85 percent dependent on imports to meet its oil needs and so benchmarks local fuel rates to international oil prices.
Diesel prices remained unchanged on August 21 after three straight days of the rate cut. Petrol price was also stable on the day, according to a price notification by state-run oil companies.
The diesel price saw a decline of 60 paise per litre between August 18 and August 20. The price cut took the fuel price to Rs 89.27. However, there was no change in the petrol prices. The last increase took the petrol price in Delhi near Rs 102 per litre-mark. The petrol price in New Delhi soared to Rs 101.84 a litre.
In Mumbai, the fuel prices witnessed a similar trend. The petrol price remained unchanged and retailed at Rs 107.83 a litre. The financial hub, on May 29, became the first metro in the country where petrol was being sold for more than Rs 100 per litre.
Diesel price also remained the same being sold at Rs 96.84 per litre in Maharashtra’s capital.
The fuel prices remain unchanged in Kolkata too, where a litre of petrol and diesel prices were Rs 102.08 and 92.32, respectively.
Chennai also retailed a litre of petrol at the same price – Rs 99.47. The DMK government in Tamil Nadu has recently announced a tax cut of Rs 3 on petrol per litre. Diesel price also remained unchanged at Rs 93.84 per litre in Tamil Nadu’s capital.
The price cut follows international oil prices tumbling to their lowest level since May after the US Federal Reserve signalled it was set to start tapering asset purchases within months, hurting commodities and lifting the dollar.
India is near 85 percent dependent on imports to meet its oil needs and so benchmarks local fuel rates to international oil prices. August 18 reduction in diesel rates came after 33 days of status quo in rates as oil companies followed what is known as moderation policy which calls for not passing on extreme volatility in rates to consumers.
Incidentally, this status quo coincided with the Parliament session where the opposition parties tried to corner the government on various issues including the hike in fuel prices. Petrol and diesel price was last hiked on July 17.
Prior to that, the petrol price was increased by Rs 11.44 a litre between May 4 and July 17. Diesel rates had gone up by Rs 9.14 during this period. The price hike during this period pushed petrol prices above Rs 100-a-litre-mark in more than half of the country while diesel crossed that levels in at least three states.
(With inputs from PTI)
