Finance minister Arun Jaitley

Chandigarh: Giving some respite to the consumers, the petrol prices have come down by Rs 5.76 per litre and diesel prices have reduced by Rs 3.91 per litre in Chandigarh. There has been a gradual decline in the fuel prices since the past 33 days. The oil companies believe that the decline is due to reduction of crude oil prices in the international markets.

The prices have seen a reduction ranging from Rs 0.08 paisa to Rs 0.19 paisa since October 15. On October 4, in a bid to ease the crunch caused by soaring fuel prices, finance minister Arun Jaitley , announced a reduction of Rs 2.50 per litre on both petrol and diesel prices after curbing excise duty on the commodity by Rs 1.50 per litre.

On October 5, UT administration had further reduced Value Added Tax (VAT) with a view to further bring down the petrol and diesel prices in city. VAT on petrol was reduced by 2.29% and on diesel by 2.38%. The price of petrol was further reduced by Rs 1.39 per litre and diesel by Rs 1.28 per litre. However, Punjab government is yet to announce the reduction of VAT to bring down the prices whereas Haryana announced the reduction on the same day.

Looking at the past 33 days, the the gap in the price difference between petrol and diesel has reached to Rs 8.35 per litre from Rs 6.18 per litre in October, 2018.

