New Delhi, Sep 14: Retail prices of fuels breached record levels on Friday, with petrol being sold at Rs 81.28 in Delhi and Rs 88.67 in Mumbai after an increase of 28 paisa in rates. The cost of diesel per litre has also been increased to Rs 73.30 per litre in Delhi and Rs 77.82 a litre in Mumbai. The national capital has the cheapest fuel rates among all metros because of lower taxes on fuel. Mumbai has the highest sales tax or VAT on petrol and diesel.

According to oil companies, refinery gate price of petrol is Rs 40.49 per litre without considering any central or state tax and dealer’s commission. The same for diesel is Rs 44.32. Retail rates are arrived at after adding excise duty, which is charged by the Central government, commission paid to petrol pumps dealers and VAT, charged by the state governments. Dealer’s commission on petrol currently is Rs 3.34 per litre and that on diesel is Rs 2.52. Check rates of fuel in your city here.

On Wednesday, the government, after a Cabinet meeting, evaded questions on rising fuel prices, with Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan asserting that he would not answer questions outside of the day's Cabinet decisions. "We will confine ourselves to the Cabinet decisions only," Pradhan told IANS when asked if a relief was in the offing from soaring oil prices. The minister also remained silent when asked if the Cabinet discussed the issue. Petrol, Diesel Price Rise Effect: Daily Use Products, Smartphones to Cost 5-8 Per Cent More as Fuel Rate Soars.

Fuel prices in the country have been rising almost daily since August 1. They fell only once on August 13 in the last 41 days. Prices have gone up on 30 days and remained unchanged on 11 days, and have been breaching record levels for more than a week now. On Tuesday, petrol prices breached the psychological barrier of Rs 90 and touched a scorching Rs 90.11 in Maharashtra's Parbhani - a new record in India.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 14, 2018 09:07 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).