Petrol prices dropped about 16 paise while diesel was down about 34 paise on Thursday, in the four major metro cities — Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi.

Petrol price in Mumbai stood at Rs 76.76 a litre while diesel rates were at Rs 68.39 per litre, at par with the levels seen at the end of March.

According to the Indian Oil Corporation data, petrol costs Rs 71.07 per litre and diesel Rs 65.22 a litre in New Delhi. In Kolkata and Chennai, the petrol price stood at Rs 73.31 per litre and Rs 73.84 per litre while diesel was at Rs 67.14 per litre and Rs 69 a litre, respectively.

Fuel prices, which have been on the rise since May 20— a day after the final phase of polling for the Lok Sabha elections, have fallen in the last week. Rates were largely range-bound during April and May despite a rise in oil prices in the international market.

As per the country's dynamic pricing mechanism, the domestic fuel prices depend upon international fuel prices on a 15-day average and the value of the rupee.

Oil prices on Thursday hovered around their lowest levels since January as markets remained under pressure from rising US supply and stalling demand amid an economic slowdown. Front-month Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $60.50 at 0108 GMT. That was 13 cents, or 0.2 percent, below last session's close.

India's oil consumption grew from 184.7 million tonnes in 2015-16 to 194.6 million tonnes in the following year and 206.2 million tonnes in the year thereafter. In 2018-19, demand grew by 2.6 percent to 211.6 million tonnes.