New Delhi, Jan 1 The rise in crude oil cost on hopes of accelerated global demand has not impacted India's retail fuel prices which have largely been static for around a month now.
On Friday, both petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged across the four metropolitan cities.
The OMCs have gone on a pause mode amid a rise in crude oil prices as Brent crude has been trading at over the $50 per barrel mark on the back of commencement of vaccination drives in several countries to counter the pandemic and expectations of a big pickup in demand.
The February contract of Brent on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) last settled at $51.80 per barrel. The February contract of WTI on NYMEX settled at $48.52 per barrel on the last trading day of 2020.
Retail fuel prices were unchanged for the 25th consecutive day after they were last revised on December 7.
In the national capital, petrol price was at Rs 83.71 per litre. In Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, the fuel was sold for Rs 90.34, Rs 86.51 and Rs 85.19 per litre, respectively.
Similarly, the price of diesel has remained at the same level since December 7 across the four cities, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata at Rs 73.87, Rs 80.51, Rs 79.21 and Rs 77.44 per litre, respectively.
Retail prices, however, may again be revised upwards if the uptrend in crude prices continue.
Analysts said that success of Covid-19 vaccines will stabilise demand globally, led by consumption in China and India, which would eventually raise crude prices.
There have however been demand from several quarter for cut in levies such as excise duty which have kept retail fuel prices high even at times crude prices remained low. Further experts also suggest that bringing petrol and diesel under the GST regime would bring down retail price of the fuels.
( With inputs from IANS )
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