Petrol in Delhi has crossed Rs 100 per litre for the first time in recent memory, hitting Rs 102.12 following the fourth hike in a fortnight.
The US-Iran conflict and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have pushed global crude above $100 per barrel, triggering a wave of retail fuel price revisions across India.
Motorists across the country got a brief respite on Wednesday as petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged following the hike that came into effect on Monday. That said, unchanged does not mean comfortable.
The revision on Monday was the fourth in just two weeks, and the cumulative effect on the wallet is anything but modest.
Petrol in New Delhi has now crossed the Rs 100 mark, standing at Rs 102.12 per litre, while diesel in the capital is priced at Rs 95.20 per litre. For a city that once prided itself on relatively moderate fuel rates compared to other metros, that is a significant psychological threshold to have crossed.
City-by-City Breakdown of Petrol and Diesel Rates
The picture looks steeper as you move to other major cities. In Mumbai, petrol has climbed past Rs 110 per litre to Rs 111.18, with diesel at Rs 97.83.
Hyderabad has the highest petrol rate among the six cities tracked, at Rs 115.73 per litre, with diesel sitting at Rs 103.82.
Kolkata records petrol at Rs 113.51 and diesel at Rs 99.82. Bengaluru stands at Rs 110.89 for petrol and Rs 98.80 for diesel, while Chennai registers Rs 107.77 and Rs 99.55 respectively.
The Fourth Hike in a Fortnight, Why Now
The latest round of revisions has pushed petrol up by Rs 2.61 per litre and diesel by Rs 2.71, as oil marketing companies work to claw back losses that had been piling up for months, even as global crude crossed $100 per barrel.
The ongoing US-Iran conflict and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have kept global energy markets volatile and crude prices elevated. The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world's most critical oil transit corridors, and any disruption to traffic through it ripples almost immediately into international crude benchmarks and, in turn, into what you pay at the pump.
What Determines the Price You Pay at the Forecourt
At the core of retail fuel pricing is the international price of crude oil, which has the single biggest bearing on what consumers ultimately pay. The rupee-dollar exchange rate adds another layer of complexity, given India's heavy reliance on imported crude. A weaker rupee means higher procurement costs, which tend to feed through into retail prices.
On top of that, taxes levied by both the central and state governments account for a substantial portion of the final price, which explains why rates vary so considerably from one state to another. Transportation costs and local demand-supply conditions round off the equation.
Until global crude eases and the geopolitical situation stabilises, Indian motorists would do well to expect continued volatility at the pump.
Also read: