Petrol and diesel prices are the costliest in the country in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala while it is cheapest in smaller states and UTs such as Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Delhi and those in the North East, mainly due to differentials in local sales tax or VAT rates, oil industry data showed.
The three state-owned fuel retailers — Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) — last week cut petrol and diesel prices by Rs 2 a litre each, ending a nearly two-year hiatus in price revision.
That reduction brought relief to fuel users but rates continue to be above Rs 100-a-litre mark in some states due to higher Value Added Tax (VAT).
Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP-ruled Andhra Pradesh has the costliest petrol at Rs 109.87 a litre, followed by Left Democratic Front (LDF)-ruled Kerala, where a litre of petrol comes for Rs 107.54. Congress-run Telangana is close behind with petrol costing Rs 107.39 a litre.
BJP-ruled states are not far behind — petrol costs Rs 106.45 a litre in Bhopal, Rs 105.16 in Patna (BJP in coalition with JD-U), Rs 104.86 in Jaipur and Rs 104.19 in Mumbai.
Mamata Banerjee’s TMC-ruled West Bengal has petrol priced at Rs 103.93 a litre. Other states with over Rs 100-a-litre petrol are Odisha (Rs 101.04 a litre in Bhubaneswar), Tamil Nadu (Rs 100.73 in Chennai), and Chattisgarh (Rs 100.37 in Raipur), industry pricing data showed.
Petrol is the cheapest in Andaman & Nicobar Island where it comes to Rs 82 a litre, followed by Silvassa and Daman where it comes to Rs 92.38-92.49 a litre.
Diesel prices have almost a similar story with Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh selling the fuel at Rs 97.6 a litre, followed by Rs 96.41 a litre in Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram, Rs 95.63 in Hyderabad and Rs 93.31 in Raipur.
The fuel is in the Rs 92-93 a litre range in BJP-ruled states of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Bihar.