New Delhi, Jun 13 (IANS): The Congress on Saturday said despite the international crude oil prices being at their lowest in the last 15 years, the petrol and diesel prices in the country are skyrocketing.

Former Union Minister Kapil Sibal said at a press conference that Central excise duty on petrol has been increased by 258% and on diesel by 819% since the Modi government came to power in May 2014. "The common man is affected most by such high taxes," he said.

The Congress said instead of passing the benefit of lower crude prices to the consumers, petrol, diesel prices were hiked for the 7th straight day on June 13. Petrol has now become 59-61 paise costlier, while diesel prices have gone up by 50-60 paise in major cities across the country.

The party alleged that the government is pocketing money at the cost of consumers. According to a report by Care Ratings, the hike effectively meant that the Central government is collecting around 270 per cent taxes on the base price of petrol and 256 per cent in the case of diesel.

According to analysts, the gain for the Union government in the remaining 11 months of the current fiscal year (April 2020 to March 2021) will be close to

Rs 1.6 lakh crore. Together with Rs 39,000 crore in annual revenues gained from the March 14 excise duty hike of Rs 3 per litre each on petrol and diesel, the government stands to gain as much as Rs 2 lakh crore.