Petrol, diesel prices hike in Delhi today after increase in VAT

Petrol prices in Delhi rose to ₹71.26 a litre as against ₹69.59 per litre while diesel rates climbed to ₹69.39 a litre as against ₹62.29. VAT on petrol has been increased to 30% from 27% while VAT on diesel has been almost doubled to 30% from 16.75% by the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi.

Faced with massive revenue losses during the coronavirus lockdown, which has been extended now for the second time, several state governments have been increasing VAT on fuels that are currently out of the purview of goods and services tax (GST).

Which other states see a hike in petrol, diesel prices.

Haryana’s state government has increased the tax on petrol by ₹1 and ₹1.1 per litre on diesel.

In Chennai, the petrol price went up ₹3.25 per litre and that of diesel by ₹2.50 per litre after the Tamil Nadu government hiked VAT.




Although petrol, diesel was under the category of essential goods for the lockdown but still the demand was extremely low, the sales saw a deep fall mainly due to operations of all the industries, offices, and restrictions on the movement of vehicles. Petrol sales were down by 61% and diesel 56.5% in April but as the economy sees a staggered opening and relaxation in lockdown norms at several places, the demand is expected to pick up this month.

Changes made by the Oil Companies

It’s been over a month since oil marketing companies have not made any changes to the base selling price of both petrol and diesel but a hike in VAT by several state governments like West Bengal, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu has led to an increase in retail prices.




Although crude oil rates have tripped more than 60% yet the state-run fuel retailers have not been able to cut prices in the Indian market due to inventory losses and falling demand.

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