The government on Thursday announced a hike of Rs14.85 per litre in the price of petrol, the fourth such raise in the last 35 days, taking the cumulative amount of all hikes since May 26 to nearly Rs100.
According to a notification issued by the Finance Division, petrol will now be priced at Rs248.74 after the latest hike, followed by high-speed diesel at Rs276.54, kerosene oil at Rs230.20 and light diesel at Rs226.61. The new prices will come into effect from midnight Thursday. The notification said that in view of the fluctuations in prices in the international market and exchange rate variation, “the government has decided to partially apply the petroleum levy and revise the existing prices of petroleum products as agreed with the development partners.”
As per the notification, Rs10 petroleum levy has been applied on petrol and Rs5 each on high-speed diesel, kerosene oil and light diesel. According to a report, the government, under the structural benchmarks, will start imposing the petroleum development levy (PDL) from today at the rate of Rs10 per litre on all products, except Rs5 per litre on high-speed diesel (HSD). The levy would then keep going up at the rate of Rs5 per month to a maximum of Rs50. The National Assembly had passed an amendment in the Finance Bill to approve Rs50 per litre petroleum development levy on all POL products.
