Petrol price was on Tuesday slashed by Rs 3 per litre, the steepest reduction in rates in over five years.

The fourth reduction in rates since March means that petrol in Hyderabad Rs 69, Delhi will cost Rs 63.09 a litre with effect from midnight tonight as against Rs 66.09 per litre currently. Rates will vary from city to city depending on local sales tax or VAT.

In Mumbai, petrol price has been cut by Rs 3.15 to Rs 69.73 per litre, while the fuel in Kolkata will cost Rs 70.35 from tomorrow as against Rs 73.48 per litre. The reduction in rates in Chennai would be Rs 3.18 per litre to Rs 65.90.

Today's price cut comes after three consecutive rate reductions on the back of falling international oil prices. State-owned oil firms, which revise rates every fortnight, had from April 16 cut petrol price by Rs 1.20 a litre in Delhi. On March 16, the rates were cut by Rs 2.40 per litre and by Re 1 in the following fortnight.

The price cut announced today is the steepest since December 2008 when rates were slashed by Rs 5 to Rs 45.62 per litre. Announcing the reduction, Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the nation's largest fuel retailer, said that since the last price change, international prices have declined from USD 116.61 per barrel to USD 107 a barrel.

Rupee-US dollar exchange rate too improved from Rs 54.51 to a US dollar to Rs 54.26. Thus, it has been decided to pass on the benefit to customers and accordingly the aforesaid reduction in the retail selling price of petrol is being affected, an IOC statement said.

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-PTI