Petrol, diesel prices cut marginally for third day in a row

NEW DELHI: Prices for petrol and diesel have fallen marginally for the third consecutive day. On Friday, petrol prices were cut by 6 paise and diesel prices by 5 paise per litre. In Delhi, petrol now costs Rs 78.29 per litre, while diesel price has been revised to Rs 69.20 a litre. 

Besides Delhi, the revised Petrol prices in other metro cities are - Rs 80.92 in Kolkata, Rs 86.10 in Mumbai and Rs 81.28 in Chennai. Meanwhile, the revised diesel price was Rs 71.75 in Kolkata, Rs 73.67 in Mumbai and 73.06 in Chennai.

The fuel prices were marginally reduced for the third day after it remained high for 16 consecutive days. The oil companies had on Thursday cut the prices further by 7 paise per litre for petrol and 5 paise per litre for diesel. It came after a day of confusion when it was announced that fuel prices were slashed by 60 paise per litre but was later corrected to 1 paise. 

While in morning there was an announcement about petrol prices going down by 60 paise in Delhi and 59 paise in Mumbai, and diesel prices going down by 56 paise in Delhi and 59 paise in Mumbai, it was later clarified by the Indian Oil Corporation that the reduction was of merely 1 paisa per litre.

"There was a technical glitch in posting the selling prices of petrol and diesel. The selling prices of petrol and diesel with effect from May 30, 2018 have been rectified. Today, there is a minor reduction in fuel prices," the IOC clarified shortly before noon.

Oil companies use 15-day rolling average of Singapore gasoline prices and Arab Gulf diesel prices to arrive at daily rates and so the fall in international oil rates seen in the last few days would be factored in for the revisions in the coming days.

The reduction comes after 16 consecutive price increases since May 14 when fuel retailers ended a 19-day pre-Karnataka poll hiatus to pass on a spike in global oil rates. In all, petrol price was increased by Rs 3.8 per litre and diesel by Rs 3.38 in that fortnight.

Prices vary from state to state depending on local sales tax or VAT. Delhi has the cheapest price among all metros and most state capitals.