New Delhi, Feb 17 (Agencies) : Petrol price was today cut by 32 paise per litre but diesel rates were hiked by 28 paise a litre on global trends. Petrol in Delhi will cost Rs 59.63 per litre from midnight tonight as against Rs 59.95 a litre currently. A litre of diesel will cost Rs 44.96 a litre as compared to Rs 44.68 now, according to Indian Oil Corp (IOC).

This is the sixth straight reduction in price of petrol on softening international rates. But in case of diesel, the hike cut short a three-month declining trend. Fuel rates were last revised on February 1 when petrol price was cut by a marginal 4 paise a litre and diesel by 3 paise a litre after the government raised excise duty to take away most of the benefit arising from fall in international oil prices.

The Government had raised excise duty on petrol by Re 1 per litre and that on diesel by Rs 1.50 to mop up an additional Rs 3,200 crore during the remainder of the current fiscal. This was the fifth hike in excise duty since November that cumulatively gave the government Rs 17,000 crore in additional revenue. The five levy hikes total to Rs 4.02 per litre on petrol and Rs 6.97 on diesel.

"The current level of international product prices of petrol and diesel and Rupee-US Dollar exchange rate warrant decrease in price of petrol and increase in price of diesel, the impact of which is being passed on to the consumers with this price revision," IOC said in a statement. Rates were cut by 95 paise a litre for petrol and Rs 1.91 per litre on diesel in January in two reductions. A similar number of reductions in December led to prices being cut by Rs 1.08 on petrol and 71 paise on diesel.

State-owned fuel retailers IOC , Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) revise rates of the fuel on 1st and 16th of every month based on average oil price and foreign exchange rate in the preceding fortnight. The revision was due on February 16 but the retailers choose to defer the revision. "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," IOC added.