Petrol, Diesel Price Today: Check prices of fuel in major cities after excise duty cut of Rs 10 per litre

Amid rising global crude prices due to the ongoing war in the Middle East, the government has slashed excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 10 per litre. With this cut, the excise duty on petrol has come down to Rs 3 a litre from Rs 13 earlier, while the levy on diesel has been slashed to nil from Rs 10 earlier. The move is expected to help state-run Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) deal with the rising global crude prices amid the war in the Middle East. The duty cuts are effective immediately, the Finance Ministry said in a notification dated March 26.

Retail fuel rates remain steady 

The excise duty cut comes as rating agency ICRA, in a note on Thursday, said if the average crude oil price goes up to USD 100-105/bbl, fuel retailers would incur a loss of Rs 11 per litre on petrol and Rs 14 per litre on diesel, respectively.

International oil prices touched USD 119 per barrel earlier this month on the intensifying Iran war, before pulling back to around USD 100 a barrel.

Despite the spike in international prices, retail pump rates have not been changed putting a strain on finances of oil companies.

Nayara Energy hikes prices

However, Nayara Energy, which operates 6,967 of India's 102,075 petrol pumps, has decided to pass on part of the increase in input costs to consumers and has raised petrol prices by Rs 5/litre and diesel by Rs 3/litre. Petrol at Nayara pumps now costs Rs 100.71 a litre and diesel costs Rs 91.31 per litre.

Jio-bp, the fuel retailing joint venture of Reliance Industries and BP Plc that owns 2,185 outlets, has, however, so far not raised prices despite incurring heavy losses on the sale of petrol and diesel.

City-wise petrol, diesel prices today in major cities