Petrol price up 89 paise per litre, diesel costlier by 86 paise

State-run oil marketing companies on Saturday announced a hike in the retail price of petrol by 89 paise per litre - the sixth time since September - and an 86 paise per litre hike in diesel prices - the third increase in a month.

The price hike announced by Indian Oil Corp (IOC) is exclusive of local sales tax or VAT and will be effective from the intervening midnight of Saturday/Sunday.

Petrol in Delhi, including local taxes, now costs Rs67.62 a litre, up Rs1.17 from Rs66.45 per litre earlier.

Similarly, diesel is being sold at Rs56.41 a litre, up Rs1.03 from Rs55.38 earlier.

OMCs had earlier increased petrol price on 16 October by Rs1.73 a litre and had added Rs6.36 to the price of a litre of petrol in five successive price hikes. The price of petrol has gone up by Rs7.53 per litre (including the latest price hike) in just over two months.

In case of diesel, the price has gone up by Rs3.90 per litre in three successive hike, including the previous hike of Rs2.77 per litre on 16 October.

"The current level of international product prices of petrol and diesel and rupee-US dollar exchange rate warrant increase in selling price of petrol and diesel, the impact of which is being passed on to the consumers with this price revision," IOC said in a statement.

IOC said the movement of prices in the international oil market and INR-USD exchange rate shall continue to be monitored closely and developing trends of the market will be reflected in future price changes.