After remaining stable for a day on Wednesday, fuel prices rose further on Thursday with the petrol price at Rs 79.51 per litre in the Delhi National Capital Region and diesel at Rs 71.55 per litre.

Petrol in Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai rose to mark a new high with prices at Rs 82.41 per litre, Rs 86.91 per litre, and Rs 82.62 a litre respectively.

Diesel too rose in the major cities to Rs 74.4 per litre in Kolkata, Rs 75.96 per litre in Mumbai and Rs 75.61 per litre in Chennai.

Prices have been on fire since mid-August, rising almost every day due to a combination of rupee depreciation and rise in crude oil rates.

Since August 16, rates for petrol have gone up by Rs 2.17 per litre, while diesel rates have climbed by Rs 2.62 - the biggest increase in rates witnessed in any fortnight since the launch of daily price revision in mid-June last year.

The rupee fell to a record low of Rs 71.75 to a dollar on Wednesday, depreciating by over Rs 3 in a month.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday remained non-committal on cutting excise duty to cushion spiralling petrol and diesel prices, saying international oil prices are volatile and have not shown any linear movement.

On Tuesday, former finance minister P Chidambaram had stated that the "Relentless rise in prices of petrol and diesel is not inevitable. Because the price is built up by excessive taxes on petrol and diesel. If taxes are cut, prices will decline significantly".

The Centre currently levies a total of Rs 19.48 per litre of excise duty on petrol and Rs 15.33 per litre on diesel.

(With PTI inputs)

First Published:Sept 6, 2018 8:16 AM IST