New Delhi, June 11: The petrol and diesel prices are only going to pinch your pockets further with the fifth consecutive rise in petrol and diesel prices by oil marketing public sector undertakings. According to a report by PTI, on Thursday petrol prices have been raised to Rs 74 per litre from Rs 73.40 whereas diesel rates have been hiked to Rs 72.22 a litre from Rs 71.62.

The rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the charges including local sales tax or VAT. It is the fifth straight daily increase in rates since oil PSUs ended an 82-day hiatus in rate revision. The continuous successive hike for fifth time has raised petrol price by Rs 2.74 per litre and diesel by Rs 2.83.

Retail prices of petrol and diesel in India depend largely upon global prices of these auto fuels, not crude, even as it is broadly linked to crude oil price trends. As countries globally resumed economic activities slowly, oil prices have gone up after the lowest decline in April, when demand was severely impacted amid a global lockdown. The international benchmark Brent crude was trading at $40.53 per barrel on Thursday, and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $38.24 per barrel.

Earlier, the fuel prices saw a revision under the dynamic pricing policy on March 16 even as few states hiked VAT or cess in an attempt to increase revenue during the nationwide lockdown.

Raising retail prices assumes significance for the OMCs now as the recent steep excise duty hike without the resultant increase in petrol and fiscal prices had substantially brought down its marketing margins from a record high level of Rs 12-18 per litre. In case the companies are unable to raise prices given the rising global crude prices, it would start incurr

ing losses that will get steeper.

Here is a look at the revised prices for Petrol and Diesel (Per Litre) in the various metropolitan cities

New Delhi: Petrol ₹74. Diesel ₹72.22

Gurgaon: Petrol ₹73.32. Diesel ₹65.36m

Mumbai: Petrol ₹80.98. Diesel ₹70.92

Chennai: Petrol ₹77.96. Diesel ₹70.64

Hyderabad: Petrol ₹76.82. Diesel ₹70.59

Bengaluru: Petrol ₹76.39. Diesel ₹68.66