Diesel prices rise for the second straight day; petrol unchanged - Check latest rates

In a major development, diesel prices rose for the second straight day on Sunday, nearing Rs 82 per litre in the national capital. Petrol prices, however, were unchanged for the 27th consecutive day across the four metros.

In Delhi, diesel was priced at Rs 81.94 a litre. With a 15-paise hike on Sunday, diesel is now Rs 1.51 costlier than petrol in the city.

After the hike, Diesel prices in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata were Rs 80.11, Rs 78.86, Rs 77.04 respectively, higher than Rs 79.97, Rs 78.73 and Rs 76.91 a litre on Saturday.

Unexpected rise in diesel prices despite slower demand has put the transport sector at a big disadvantage as rising fuel cost has further shrunk its margins. The price of diesel in the national capital has also made automobile companies concerned about the prospects of the sale of diesel-run cars in the country's largest car market.

Petrol prices, which were last hiked on June 29, again remained unchanged across the four metros.

In Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, petrol was sold at an unchanged price of Rs 87.19, Rs 83.63, Rs 82.10 per litre respectively.

Oil companies resumed the dynamic pricing system for daily revision of the two auto fuels from June 7 after keeping the price unchanged for around 82 days during the lockdown.

On July 24, the Mahanagar Gas Ltd (MGL) had announced a hike of Re 1 per kg in the price of CNG used by public and private vehicles, with effect from midnight. Accordingly, the revised selling price all-inclusive of CNG in Mumbai and surroundings will now be Rs 48.95 per kg from Saturday.

The reasons cited for the hike are to partially recover fixed costs in the face of lower sales volumes due to the Covid-19 pandemic and higher gas cost due to depreciation of the rupee versus the dollar, said the MGL.

However, thousands of domestic users of PNG have been spared any hike this time.

In April 5, MGL had slashed the prices of both CNG and PNG, by Rs 2 and Re 1 per kg, respectively, as the government had reduced the rate of domestically produced natural gas, at the height of the pandemic lockdown.

Even after the latest revision, the MGL said its CNG offers attractive savings of about 60 per cent and 39 per cent, as compared to petrol and diesel, respectively, at the current fuel price levels in Mumbai.