Mumbai, Apr 20 (Agencies): Petrol prices rose to 55-month high while diesel became costliest ever. On Friday, petrol increased marginally by 1 paisa and diesel by 4 paise.

Petrol in the national capital, Delhi now costs Rs 74.08 a litre, the highest since September 2013 when rates had hit Rs 76.06. Diesel price at Rs 65.31 is the highest ever.

In Kolkata petrol on Friday retailed at Rs 76.78, in Mumbai at Rs 81.93 and in Chennai at Rs 76.85. Diesel rates in Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai were 68.01, 69.54, 68.9 respectively.

The Oil Ministry had earlier this year sought a reduction in excise duty on petrol and diesel to cushion the impact rising international oil rates but Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget presented on February 1 ignored those calls. India has the highest retail prices of petrol and diesel among South Asian nations as taxes account for half of the pump rates.

The central government had cut excise duty by Rs 2 per litre in October 2017, when petrol price reached Rs 70.88 per litre in Delhi and diesel Rs 59.14. Because of the reduction in excise duty, diesel prices had on October 4, 2017 come down to Rs 56.89 per litre and petrol to Rs 68.38 per litre.

However, a global rally in crude prices pushed domestic fuel prices far higher than those levels.

The October 2017 excise duty cut cost the government Rs 26,000 crore in annual revenue and about Rs 13,000 crore during the remaining part of the
current fiscal year.

The government had between November 2014 and January 2016 raised excise duty on petrol and diesel on nine occasions to take away gains arising from plummeting global oil prices.