Diesel prices, which had always trudged behind petrol, have now become more costly in Delhi — a result of a sustained barrage of higher taxes on the fuel vis-à-vis petrol.

The price of diesel on Wednesday was raised by 48 paise for the 18th day running, while the price of petrol was kept unchanged.

Diesel now costs Rs 79.88 per litre in Delhi compared with Rs 79.76 a litre for petrol. In Calcutta, however, petrol prices are higher at Rs 81.45 per litre compared with the diesel price of Rs 75.06 per litre.

Traditionally, diesel was priced Rs 18-20 a litre lower than petrol because of lesser taxation. But over the years, the taxes have increased, narrowing the gap.

Since 2014, the fuel for transporters had been subject to greater excise duty hikes compared with petrol.

While the duty hike has been 820 per cent in diesel, it was 258 per cent in petrol.

But what tilted the scales was the sharp increase in local sales tax, or VAT, by the Delhi government in May.

The Delhi government had on May 5 hiked value added tax (VAT) on diesel to 30 per cent from 16.75 per cent and petrol to 30 per cent from 27 per cent. Since the levy is ad valorem, the actual incidence has gone up every single time the oil companies raised the retail selling price.

The 18th daily increase in rates since oil companies on June 7 restarted revising prices in line with costs after ending an 82-day hiatus in rate revision, has taken diesel prices to fresh highs.

In 18 days, diesel price has gone up Rs 10.49 per litre. Petrol price has risen by Rs 8.5 a litre in the past 17 days.

Taxes make up for nearly two-thirds of the retail selling price. As much as Rs 50.69 per litre, or 64 per cent, in petrol price is due to taxes — Rs 32.98 is the central excise duty and Rs 17.71 is local sales tax or VAT. Over 63 per cent of the retail selling price of diesel is taxes.