Petrol and diesel rates unchanged in metros despite crude jump

Petrol and diesel prices remained stable across major Indian cities on Sunday, even as global crude oil benchmarks rose. Livemint reports that Brent crude settled 1.67 per cent higher at $88.52 a barrel on Friday and gained almost 6 per cent during the week amid a deadlock in US-Iran talks over the Strait of Hormuz.

In Delhi, petrol costs ₹102.12 per litre and diesel ₹95.20. Mumbai's rates are ₹111.21 for petrol and ₹97.83 for diesel, while Bengaluru sees petrol at ₹111.68 and diesel at ₹99.56. The government has also revised export levies: the duty on diesel exports was cut to ₹24 per litre from ₹25.5, the levy on petrol exports was set at zero, and the tax on aviation turbine fuel was reduced to ₹19.5 per litre from ₹22.

Economist Santosh Mehrotra warned that if India cuts its purchases of Russian crude by 50 per cent, the annual oil import bill could rise by $5-10 billion. He added this could push up inflation by 0.3 percentage point and strain the current account deficit, which has been 0.6-0.7 per cent of GDP.