New Delhi: In a big relief to the citizen of the country, fuel prices continued its downward run with yet again witnessing a cut in its retail rates on Friday morning. Petrol prices were slashed by 19 paise in Delhi to Rs 79.18 whereas diesel rates have come down by 14 paise to Rs 73.64. Likewise in Mumbai, petrol prices have witnessed a dip of 18 paisa to Rs 84.64 and diesel rates have been reduced by 14 paise to Rs 77.18. Petrol and diesel prices have seen a decent decline over the past few days with rates coming down by more than Rs 3.50 in the last two weeks in Mumbai. Even in other parts of the country, there has been a decent prices cut announced by the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).


On Thursday, petrol prices were reduced to Rs 81.25, while in case of Chennai, it was retailing for Rs 82.46. The relentless hike in petrol prices last month forced people to buy it at over Rs 90 in certain parts of Mumbai, and a historic high of Rs 91.24 on October 4th.

This much-awaited cut in petrol and diesel prices over the last two weeks has brought massive relief to the consumers across the country. The price dip will also have a positive impact on India’s inflation reading. Softening of global crude oil prices have led to the cut in fuel prices in the country.

A report by news agency Reuters stated that the Brent crude January futures contract lost 44 cents, or 0.32 per cent, to trade at $74.72 per barrel by GMT 0054 GMT. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 46 cents to $65.01 a barrel.
However, the political slugfest over the hike in fuel prices continue as days back former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh criticised the incumbent government over the relentless hike in petrol and diesel prices. While speaking at an even, Singh said, “Petrol and diesel prices are at historic high despite fall in international crude oil prices because Modi government chose to levy excessive excise duties instead of passing on benefit of low prices to Indians.”