The oil marketing companies (OMCs) kept petrol and diesel rates static for the fifth consecutive day on Thursday.

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Accordingly, petrol prices in Delhi remained unchanged at Rs 91.17 a litre, while diesel prices maintained its price line of Rs 81.47 a litre in the national capital, according to Indian Oil Corporation, the country's largest fuel retailer.

In Mumbai, petrol price remained unchanged at Rs 97.57 per litre on Monday. The cost of diesel also was the same at Rs 88.60 a litre.

The prices of petrol and diesel are reviewed by oil marketing companies such as state-run Indian Oil on a daily basis and any revision is implemented from 6 am in the morning.

The fuel prices vary from state to state in the country due to the value-added tax or VAT.

Meanwhile, analysts believe that the government has room to cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by up to Rs 8.5 per litre without impacting its target for revenue from the tax on the two fuels.

Petrol and diesel prices hover at a historic high following a relentless increase in rates over the past nine months. There have been calls by opposition parties as well as sections of society to the government to reduce excise duty to ease consumer pain.

”We estimate excise duty on auto fuels in FY22 (April 2021 to March 2022), if it is not cut, at Rs 4.35 lakh crore versus budget estimate of Rs 3.2 lakh crore. ”Thus, even if excise duty is cut by Rs 8.5 per litre on or before April 1, 2021, FY22E budget estimate can be met,” ICICI Securities was quoted as saying in PTI report.

The rates of regular petrol had last month crossed the Rs 100-mark at a few places in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, which levy the highest value-added tax (VAT) on the fuel in the country. Between November 2014 and January 2016, the government had raised excise duty on petrol and diesel on nine occasions to take away gains arising from plummeting global oil prices.