Vikrant Shekhawat : Oct 30, 2021, 12:28 PM
New Delhi: Petrol and diesel price hike continues unabated as oil companies hiked the prices today for the fourth consecutive day this week. The hike continues amid rising prices of global crude oil in the international markets.Petrol price in Delhi today has gone up to ₹108.99 per litre, up by 35 paise per litre.Diesel price in the national capital will now cost ₹97.72 per litre after a similar hike.Petrol price in Mumbai today has reached ₹114.81 per litre, while diesel price has gone up to ₹105.86. Petrol price in Kolkata is also nearing ₹110 for the first time in history. It will cost ₹109.46 per litre today, while diesel is priced at ₹100.84. Petrol price in Chennai has been hiked to ₹105.74 per litre, and diesel to ₹101.92. Petrol price in Bengaluru today has reached 112.79 per litre, and diesel price has gone up to ₹103.72 per litre.Since last week, India has witnessed as many as nine hikes so far in just 13 days. Till Tuesday this week, price of both fuel rose by around ₹2 per litre. Petrol price has been hiked by as many as 21 times in the last four weeks, while diesel price was hiked 24 times since September 24. The latest hikes have increased petrol and diesel prices by more than ₹8 per litre. Since May 2020, the price of petrol has gone up by nearly ₹38 per litre. Diesel too has seen an overall hike of nearly ₹29 per litre during this period.While the fluctuating rate of global crude oil is one of the reasons behind the latest spree of fuel price hikes, high tax structure on petrol and diesel also contributes to it. The central and state government taxes contribute nearly 60% of the petrol retail price and 54% of the diesel retail rate. Currently, the Centre levies excise duties of ₹32.80 per litre on petrol and ₹31.80 on diesel. Both fuel also attract variable VAT amounts from different state governments and dealer commissions as well.