Amid hikes, Petrol set to touch Rs 90 per litre mark in Mumbai

Mumbai : Fuel prices continued to rise in the market with petrol costing Rs 82.16 per litre in the national capital and Rs 89.54 per litre in Mumbai. Similarly, a litre of diesel went up by 9 paise from yesterday to be sold at Rs 73.87 in Delhi and Rs 78.42 in the financial capital.

A survey on Monday has claimed that the people have been cutting onto their households budget to balance the extra expenses due to petrol price hike. The Centre – attributing the price hike to global factors – has ruled out any possibility of cutting on excise duty on petrol and diesel prices estimating a revenue loss of Rs 28,000 crore to Rs 30,000 crore with a reduction of Rs 2 per litre on petrol and diesel.

However, a few states have announced reduction in the VAT to decrease the fuel prices by up to Rs 2 per litre. Karnataka on Monday slashed Rs 2 per litre; earlier, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal announced a reduction of Rs 2.5, 2 and Re 1 on fuel prices respectively.

Union Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday reiterated his stand on bringing the fuels under the GST ambit. He also called out the Odisha government to follow suit of the other state governments and reduce VAT on both petrol and diesel.