Petrol price breaches Rs 70-mark, diesel crosses Rs 64

New Delhi, January 14

Petrol price breached the Rs 70-a-litre mark and diesel crossed the Rs 64 mark on Monday after rates were hiked for the fifth consecutive day on rising input cost.

Petrol price was raised by 38 paise per litre and diesel by 49 paise a litre, according to the price notification issued by state-owned oil firms.

In Delhi, petrol now costs Rs 70.13 a litre and diesel is priced at Rs 64.18.

This is the fifth consecutive day of increase in rates and sixth hike this month.

Rates on Sunday were increased by 49 paise per litre in case of petrol and 59 paise for diesel.

In all, prices have gone up by Rs 1.84 a litre for petrol and by Rs 2.02 for diesel in the New Year.

In Mumbai, petrol costs Rs 75.77 a litre and diesel is priced at Rs 67.18.

Rates vary from state to state, depending on the rate of local sales tax or value added tax (VAT).

Petrol and diesel prices have been on the rise since January 7.

Prior to that, rates had cooled to a year’s low of Rs 68.29 for petrol and Rs 62.16 in case of diesel. This followed a decline in rates on almost all days since October 18, 2018.

In all, the petrol price has fallen by Rs 14.54 per litre since October 18, 2018, while diesel price declined by Rs 13.53 per litre in two and a half months. PTI