New Delhi, Jan 15 (PTI): Petrol price was today cut by 32 paise a litre and diesel's by 85 paise a litre, the fourth reduction in rates in six weeks on the back of softening global oil prices.
Petrol in Delhi will cost Rs 59.03 per litre with effect from midnight tonight as against Rs 59.35 per litre currently. A litre of diesel will cost Rs 44.18 as opposed to Rs 45.03 presently, said Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the nation's biggest fuel retailer.
This the fourth reduction in rates since December 1. Rates were on that day cut by 58 paise a litre in case of petrol and by 25 paise in diesel. This was followed by a 50 paise a litre reduction in price of petrol from December 16 and 46 paise in case of diesel.
Petrol price, on January 1, was cut by 63 paise per litre and diesel's by Rs 1.06 a litre. The reduction would have been more but for government raising excise duty on the two auto fuel to take away some of the gains from the crude oil prices slumping to 12-year low of under USD 30 per barrel.
The government had on December 17 raised excise duty on petrol by 30 paise and that on diesel by Rs 1.17 per litre. This was followed by a 37 paise increase in the levy on petrol from January 3 and Rs 2 per litre on diesel.
The two duty hikes took away from customers benefit of 67 paise lower petrol price and Rs 3.17 a litre lower diesel rate but gave the government Rs 6,800 crore in additional revenue during the remainder of current fiscal.
"The current level of international product prices of petrol and diesel and Rupee-US Dollar exchange rate warrant a decrease in prices, the impact of which is being passed on to the consumers with this price revision," IOC said in a statement.
State-owned fuel retailers IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) revise rates of petrol and diesel on 1st and 16th of every month based on average oil price and foreign exchange rate in the preceding fortnight.
"The movement of prices in the international oil market and Rupee-USD exchange rate shall continue to be monitored closely and developing trends of the market will be reflected in future price changes," the statement added.