Oil marketing companies have slashed petrol price by 2 rupees, 42 paise per litre and diesel by 2 rupees, 25 paise a litre. The new rates will be effective from midnight tonight. This is the ninth straight reduction in petrol prices since August, and fifth in diesel since October.

Petrol will now cost 58 rupees 91 paise a litre in Delhi, which is the lowest in 44 months. Diesel will cost 48 rupees 26 paise a litre in Delhi. The price cut came following steep fall in global crude oil prices. Crude oil prices have come down from 115 dollars in June to 46 US Dollars per barrel.

The government on Friday hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel by 2 rupees per litre. A Finance Ministry notification said, the excise duty hike will be effective from midnight tonight. However, it will have no impact on the current prices of petrol and diesel and their prices will remain unchanged. This is the fourth increase in excise duty on the two fuels since November last year. The excise duty hike will result in about 20 thousand crore rupees in additional revenue this fiscal and will help the government meet its fiscal deficit target of 4.1 per cent of the GDP.