NEW DELHI : As crude oil prices continued to tumble, petrol and diesel rates were cut once again today. Petrol is now cheaper by 24 paise and diesel by 22 paise. Petrol and prices, on a declining trend since January 12, were left unchanged yesterday. In New Delhi, a litre of petrol today costs ₹73.36 and diesel ₹66.36.

In Mumbai, a litre of petrol comes at a price of ₹78.97 a litre and diesel ₹69.56 a litre. If you are in Bengaluru, you will have to pay ₹75.81 for petrol and ₹68.57 for diesel. In Chennai, petrol costs ₹76.19 and diesel ₹ 70.09. Those in Hyderabad will have to pay ₹ 78.01 for petrol and ₹ 72.36 for diesel. In Gurgaon, you pay ₹ 73.16 for petrol and ₹ 65.58 for diesel.

Since January 12, prices of both petrol and diesel have fallen by over ₹ 2.5 a litre each.

‘Include petrol and diesel in GST’

Congress leader and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has demanded that petrol and diesel should be brought under the ambit of the goods and services tax (GST) as it will help provide relief to farmers who have been paying higher rates.

The Centre has earned over ₹13.5 lakh crore by way of taxes on petroleum products, Chavan said. Crude oil, natural gas, petrol, diesel, and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) have been kept out of the purview of GST given the revenue dependence of state governments on the petroleum sector.

The oil ministry has also been requesting the government to include petrol and diesel in GST.

Crude oil prices

After rising 0.5% yesterday, crude oil rates fell once again today. Brent crude was down 35 cents, or 0.6%, at $59.46 a barrel. US crude was down 30 cents, or 0.6%, at $53.03 a barrel, after dropping 0.3% in the previous session.