Indian motorists continued to suffer on Thursday due to the rising fuel prices for the 12th consecutive day. Petrol price in the national capital was hiked by 53 paise per litre and diesel by 64 paise a litre, taking the total jump to Rs 6.55 for petrol and Rs 7.04 for diesel.
In Delhi, petrol was being sold at Rs 77.81 per litre from Rs 77.28, and diesel at Rs 76.43 a litre from Rs 75.79, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.
Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.
In Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, petrol was priced at Rs 79.59, Rs 81.32 and Rs 79.59 per litre respectively.
Diesel prices in these cities were Rs 71.96 (Mumbai), Rs 74.23 (Chennai) and Rs 71.96 (Kolkata).
This is the 12th daily increase in rates in a row since oil companies on June 7 restarted revising prices in line with costs, after ending an 82-day hiatus in rate revision.
On Wednesday, international crude oil edged a bit lower with Brent crude futures trading down 0.3 per cent at $40.82 per barrel.
Oil PSUs Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) instead of passing on the excise duty hikes to customers adjusted them against the fall in the retail rates that was warranted because of fall in international oil prices to two decade low.