Petrol, diesel touches at new high; Govt likely to cut excise duty

Prices of petrol and diesel continued their upward trend on Wednesday amid a nation-wide outcry to control the 'crisis'. Petrol prices in Delhi at Rs 77.17/litre and Petrol and diesel prices touched new highs of Rs 76.87 and Rs 68.08 a litre, respectively, in Delhi on Tuesday. In the Mumbai market, prices of petrol at Rs 84.70 a litre and diesel at Rs 72.48 were the highest ever.

While Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan stated that he has aired concerns about high oil prices, a senior official said the government will come out with "some steps" this week to deal with record high petrol and diesel rates.

"I have loudly spoken about concerns (about high oil prices)," Pradhan said, adding that "appropriate steps" will be taken. He did not elaborate.

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) will take a final call on a cut in the excise duty on petrol and diesel, according to senior officials, with surging fuel prices creating ripples among consumers and politicians alike. The cut is likely to be in the range of Rs 2 to Rs 4 a litre, they added.

The Centre's budgeted estimate in revenues from petrol and diesel duties was Rs 2.43 trillion for 2018-19.