Petrol at ₹122 per litre. This city has the costliest fuel in India

Petrol and diesel rates were hiked by 80 paise on Tuesday, according to a price notification by state-run fuel retailers.

This is the 13th hike in fuel prices in the last 15 days. Following the rate revision, the price of petrol has gone up by 84 paise to ₹119.6 per litre in Mumbai and diesel price went up by 85 paise to ₹103.9 per litre.

In various districts of Maharashtra, petrol prices have crossed the ₹120 per litre mark. The highest price was in Parbhani, where a litre of petrol is being sold for ₹122.62.

The price of one litre of petrol in Delhi stood at ₹104.65 while the rate of diesel has increased from ₹95.07 per litre to ₹95.87 in the national capital.

In Chennai, petrol and diesel retailed at ₹110.08 and ₹100.16 per litre, respectively. In Kolkata, the price of petrol was hiked by 83 paise to ₹114.28 and diesel by 80 paise to ₹99.02.

In Bengaluru, consumers will have to shell out ₹110.25 for a litre of petrol and ₹94.01 for a litre of diesel.

In Hyderabad, the price of petrol rose to ₹118.57 per litre while diesel retailed at ₹104.6.

Fuel rates vary from state to state based on the incidence of local taxation.

The price hike comes at a time when Brent crude – the international benchmark – is hovering around $110 a barrel amid supply concerns due to the Russia-Ukraine war.

On Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the US believes it is not in India's interest to increase the imports of Russian energy and other commodities.

Psaki, however, pointed out that India's imports of Russian energy constitute only 1-2% of the country's total energy imports. India imports around 85% of its annual oil requirement.

Last week, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that India has already started buying cheap Russian oil. "I would put my energy security first. If the fuel is available at a discount, why shouldn't I buy it?" she had said. "We have started buying (oil from Russia). We have received quite a number of barrels. I would think about 3-4 days of supply, and this will continue. India's overall interest is what is kept in mind."

Fuel prices were kept on hold amid assembly elections in states like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.

The rising crude oil prices are expected to severely impact India's foreign exchange outgo, fiscal deficit and inflation.