Petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged on January 5, according to a price notification by state-owned fuel retailers. The rates have been static since the highest-ever excise duty cut by the Centre to bring them down from record highs.
The government cut the duty on petrol by Rs 5 per litre and that on diesel by Rs 10 a litre on November 3. Following this, many states and Union Territories cut local sales tax or value-added tax (VAT) to give further relief to consumers.
The latest on the list was Delhi that reduced the VAT on petrol from 30 percent to 19.4 percent from December 1 midnight, lowering the price by around Rs 8 per litre in the city to Rs 95.41. The rate remained the same on January 5. Diesel price also remained unchanged in Delhi at Rs 86.67 per litre.
In Mumbai, the November 4 decline had brought the price of petrol down to Rs 109.98 a litre, which remained unchanged on the day. Diesel price also stayed put at Rs 94.14 per litre.
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In Kolkata, petrol and diesel prices remained at Rs 104.67 per litre and Rs 89.79 per litre, respectively.
Chennai retailed a litre of petrol at the same price of Rs 101.40. Diesel price also remained unchanged at Rs 91.43 per litre.
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The states and Union Territories that had gone for the VAT reduction after the excise duty cut by the Centre include Ladakh, Karnataka, Puducherry, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim, Mizoram, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, and Daman and Diu.
The next in line were Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Gujarat, Nagaland, Punjab, Goa, Meghalaya, Odisha, Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Andaman and Nicobar, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has announced a concession of Rs 25 per litre on petrol and diesel prices for two-wheelers owned by the poor in the state from the Republic Day. Soren made the announcement on the completion of two years of the JMM-led coalition government in the state on December 29.
States that have so far not lowered the VAT include those ruled by the Congress and its allies – Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Trinamool Congress-ruled West Bengal, Left-ruled Kerala, TRS-led Telangana and YSR Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh have also refused to follow suit.
Congress-ruled Punjab has seen the biggest reduction in the price of petrol in the country after it cut VAT the most while Ladakh witnessed the largest reduction in diesel rates.
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