New Delhi: Consumers in the country’s oil-producing states are paying some of the highest prices of petrol per litre, figures placed by the government in parliament have shown.

Among those states, Gujarat has facilitated petrol to consumers at the lowest per-litre price — at Rs 94.70.

In reply to a written question posed by Congress MP from Gujarat, Geniben Nagajibhai Thakor, on the petrol and diesel price hike, minister for petroleum and natural gas Hardeep Singh Puri, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on August 21, furnished the prices of petrol per litre in the capital cities of states and Union territories, as of January 2025.

The figures showed that the capital cities of the on-shore oil-producing states – Gujarat, Assam and Rajasthan – have per litre petrol currently at Rs. 94.70; Rs 98.19 and Rs 104.72 respectively.

Among the off-shore oil-producing states, while Chennai in Tamil Nadu sells a litre of petrol at Rs 100.80 currently, Amravati in Andhra Pradesh sells it at Rs 100.75 per litre. Mumbai, the capital city of the other off-shore oil-producing state, Maharashtra, sells petrol at Rs 103.50.

Though petrol/crude oil is in the Union List as per the 7th Schedule of the Constitution, in states like Assam, there has been a demand from various organisations to lower the price of the fuel as it is an oil-producing state. In June 2024, with the clamour rising against fuel price hike in the north-eastern state just a day after the parliamentary election results were announced, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had defended it with the argument that people in Assam are paying Rs 7 less than the opposition-ruled neighbouring state, West Bengal. Bengal, however, doesn’t produce crude oil.

Sarma had also said then, “We had brought down the price of petrol and diesel by Rs 3 per litre prior to the Lok Sabha elections. However, we are forced to raise the costs by Rs 1 because of the flood and other state-wide issues.” However, the prices were not brought down after the annual floods had receded.

While consumers in Pune currently pay the highest price per litre of petrol at Rs 109.74, Ranchi pays the lowest per litre at Rs 82.46.

Consumers in Pune also pay the highest per litre price on diesel in the country while Itanagar pays the lowest at Rs 80.41 per litre of diesel.

Fuel prices, particularly of diesel, are directly linked to price-rise of essentials, including food. The ministry in its reply said, “The impact of increase/decrease in prices of petrol, diesel and LPG can be assessed through their impact on inflation measured by Wholesale Price Index (WPI)”, adding, “The weightage of petrol and diesel in the WPI index is 1.60% and 3.10% respectively.”

Among the capital cities of the oil-producing states, Amravati pays the lowest per litre price of diesel at Rs 87.06; followed by Guwahati at Rs 89.42; Mumbai at Rs 90.03; Jaipur at Rs 90.21; Gandhinagar at Rs 90.38 and Chennai at Rs 92.39.

The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.