Petrol, diesel price hike continued for the second day in a row after Karnataka elections ended. The petrol and diesel price was on Tuesday hiked by 15 paise a litre and by 23 paise a litre, respectively, by the oil marketing companies. The petrol price in Delhi is currently at fresh 56-month peak and the price of diesel has registered a fresh all-time high. The petrol was selling at Rs 74.95 per litre in Delhi, Rs 77.65 per litre in Kolkata, Rs 82.79 per litre in Mumbai and Rs 77.77 per litre in Chennai, according to Indian Oil Corporation. Diesel prices were at Rs 66.36 per litre, Rs 68.9 per litre, Rs 70.66 per litre and Rs 70.02 per litre respectively.
The new revision in the petrol, diesel prices in India have come into effect from 6 am today morning. The results of Karnataka elections will be announced later in the day today. The state went to polls last Saturday.
On Monday, after a 19-day hiatus, petrol price was on Monday hiked by 17 paise a litre and diesel by 21 paise. The oil marketing companies have lost around Rs 500 crore as rise in global crude oil rates continued and fall in rupee against the US dollar escalated.
According to an analysis, the oil marketing companies which have been since June last year revising auto fuel prices on a daily basis to reflect changes in the cost, kept the fuel rates on hold since April 24 this year. The oil marketing companies have however refused to acknowledge that the freeze in petrol, diesel rates was due to government diktat so as to help ruling BJP in Karnataka.