Petrol price increased by Rs 3.18 litre, diesel by 3.09

On the back drop of the 2015 Budget, the government has increased the price of the petrol by Rs 3.18 per litre, which is quite steep. Diesel wasn’t left alone, which also saw a steep hike of Rs 3.09 per litre. This is the first time the government has announced such a steep hike in prices of both the fuel since its global rate fall. This new price will be effective from Sunday.

A litre of petrol in Delhi will cost Rs 60.49 from tomorrow as against Rs 57.31 currently while diesel will cost Rs 49.71 per litre as against Rs 46.62 at present. Cumulatively, petrol price had been cut by Rs 17.11 per litre in ten reductions since August and diesel by Rs 12.96 a litre since its deregulation in October.

The current government is serious about double digit growth in the next fiscal year and wants to make sure that it reduces the fiscal deficit as much as possible. The timing of this price increase is quite interesting, as the government didn’t want its decision to backfire if it had announced the price hike before the 2015 budget.