Petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged on February 21 for more than 100 days now, a notification issued by state-owned fuel retailers showed.
This even as the looming Russia-Ukraine Crisis pushed energy costs and stoked global inflation. Oil prices climbed almost 2 percent in early trade on February 21. Brent rose $1.22 to $94.76 a barrel, while US crude climbed $1.76 to $92.83.
The rise in oil prices came after they suffered their first weekly loss in two months last week amid tentative signs of progress on an Iran deal which could release new supply into the market. An accord still looks distant, however, and is offset by the risk of sanctions against major oil producer Russia.
Ministers from Arab oil-producing countries on February 20 rejected calls to pump more and said OPEC+ – the alliance of OPEC countries and other suppliers including Russia – should stick to its current agreement to add 400,000 barrels of oil per day.
The last rate cut was by Delhi when it reduced the local sales tax, or the value-added tax (VAT), on petrol from 30 to 19.4 percent from December 1 midnight, bringing down the price by around Rs 8 to Rs 95.41 a litre. Diesel price remains unchanged in the national capital at Rs 86.67 a litre.
On November 3, the Centre had gone for the deepest excise duty cut ever to cool retail prices from record highs, reducing the duty on petrol by Rs 5 and on diesel by Rs 10. Many states and Union Territories followed the Centre’s lead to give further relief to consumers.
In Mumbai, a November 4 cut reduced the price of petrol to Rs 109.98 a litre, which remains unchanged. Diesel is at Rs 94.14 a litre.
In Kolkata, petrol and diesel prices remain at Rs 104.67 and Rs 89.79. Petrol is at Rs 101.40 and diesel at Rs 91.43 in Chennai.
The states and Union Territories that cut VAT after the Centre reduced excise duty include Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Sikkim, Mizoram, Daman and Diu, Karnataka and Puducherry.
States that have so far not lowered VAT include largely opposition ruled regions including Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu. TMC-governed West Bengal, Left-ruled Kerala, TRS-led Telangana and YSR Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh have also not cut VAT.The Congress-ruled Punjab, which votes for the new assembly on February 20, has seen the biggest drop in petrol prices after it slashed VAT the most. The Union Territory of Ladakh has seen the biggest drop in diesel rates.