Petrol, diesel prices continue to fall in Delhi and other major cities

The prices of key transport fuels -- petrol and diesel -- continued to fall significantly on Thursday thanks to lower global crude oil prices.

Petrol price decreased by 23-34 paise across major cities while diesel too continued the downward trend.

According to the Indian Oil Corp data, petrol was priced at Rs 73.24 (a fall of 23 paise) per litre in the national capital on Thursday.

Petrol prices declined to Rs 78.80 (a fall of 32 paise) per litre in Mumbai, Rs 75.24 (a fall of 23 paise) in Kolkata and Rs 76.01 (a fall of 34 paise) in Chennai on Thursday.

The price of diesel too continued to follow the downward trend.

The price of diesel in Mumbai was down at Rs 71.33 (a fall of 38 paise) per litre. Similarly, prices of diesel in Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai declined to Rs 68.13 (a fall of 26 paise) per litre, Rs 69.98 (a fall of 36 paise) and Rs 71.95 (a fall of 39 paise) a litre respectively.

As per the daily dynamic pricing regime, domestic fuel prices depend on international fuel prices on a 15-day average, besides the value of the rupee.

Brent crude prices on Monday closed at $59.2 per barrel, a 13-month low

Prices vary from region to region due to local taxes, as the products are excluded from the GST regime. Delhi has the lowest tax rate among the four metros.

The United States recently softened its stand on Iran's sanctions and gave its nod to eight countries to continue importing oil from Iran temporarily. The list of countries includes India, China, South Korea, Japan, Turkey, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, and Taiwan.

Earlier last month, the Centre announced a cut in excise duty by Rs 1.50 a litre.

Additionally, the state-owned oil marketing companies had been mandated to reduce the prices of petrol and diesel by Re 1 a litre.