article on the rice price of petrol
Answers
Answer:
The prices of petrol and diesel have been on the rise over the past two weeks ever since the country’s key oil marketing companies (OMCs) resumed the daily rate revision of the auto fuels after an 82-day hiatus. In the national capital, petrol price has risen by Rs 8.30 during the past 16 days to Rs 79.56 per litre as of Monday, while diesel has touched a record high of Rs 78.85, up by Rs 9.46 — a record increase in rates of the fuel in any fortnight since pricing was deregulated in April 2002.
The fuel price hike is not limited only to Delhi but other states as well. However, it differs from state to state depending on the local sales tax or value added tax (VAT
Explanation:
What is leading to the recent rise in petrol and diesel prices?
Petrol and diesel prices depend on some key factors, the primary factor being the prices of global crude oil. Now, because of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns in various parts of the world, the demand for crude oil had crashed sharply earlier this year, which led to a fall in the global oil prices. The situation was so grim that the latter half of April, the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude slipped in the negative territory.
But now the situation has improved considerably in the global market and oil prices are slowly inching back to pre-COVID levels.
Apart from global crude oil prices, the rupee-dollar exchange rate and the excise duty levied by the central government and local sales tax or value added tax (VAT) levied by the state governments also play an important role in the retail prices of petrol and diesel.
Over the past three months, the centre has hiked the excise duty on petrol and diesel twice and also some state governments have raised VAT on the two fuels in a bid to take advantage of the low oil prices and mop up additional revenues through taxes.