After big cuts in petrol and diesel prices following the Centre and states reducing taxes, fuel prices remained unchanged on Tuesday providing further relief to consumers.Accordingly, the pump price of petrol in Delhi, which fell to Rs 103.97 a litre at 6 a.m. on November 4 from the previous day’s Rs 110.04 a litre, remained the same on Tuesday.The diesel prices also continued to be stable in the capital at Rs 86.67 a litre.In the financial capital Mumbai, petrol continues to be priced at Rs 109.98 a litre and diesel Rs 94.14 a litre.Fuel rates also remained static in Kolkata where the price of petrol had reduced by Rs 5.82 to Rs 104.67 per litre and that of diesel by Rs 11.77 to Rs 89.79 per litre last week.Petrol prices in Chennai also remains at Rs 101.40 per litre and diesel at Rs 91.43 per litre.The prices largely remained unchanged across the country on Tuesday but the retail rates varied depending on the level of local taxes.Just a few days ago, the global crude prices had softened to around $83 a barrel from the three-year high level of over $85 a barrel.If the price line holds, fuel rates in India could come down further and increases could be checked. But OPEC+ decision on only gradual increase in production in December could push up crude prices again. It’s already up by $1 per barrel over last week.Before price cuts and pause, diesel prices have gone up on 30 out of the last 46 days taking up its retail price by Rs 9.90 per litre in Delhi.Petrol prices have also increased on 28 of the previous 42 days hiking its pump price by Rs 8.85 per litre.Since January 1, petrol and diesel prices have risen by more than Rs 26 a litre before the duty cuts.The excise duty cut by the Centre last week was first such exercise since the onset of Covid pandemic. In fact, the government had revised excise duty on petrol and diesel sharply in March and again in May last year to mobilise additional resources for Covid relief measures.The excise duty was raised by Rs 13 and Rs 16 per litre on petrol and diesel, respectively, between March 2020 and May 2020 and was standing high at Rs 31.8 on diesel and Rs 32.9 per litre on petrol before the Centre finally decided on the duty cut.
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