Oil companies on Friday hiked the price of petrol by Rs 2.21 per litre and that of diesel by Rs 1.79 a litre. The revised rates will come to effect from Friday midnight. The hiked figures exclude state levies. In Delhi, a litre of petrol will cost Rs 68.31 from Friday midnight, while diesel will be available for Rs 56.36 per litre.

Earlier on Friday, the oil firms had said they would defer the hike. The increase in the rates was necessitated after global petrol price surged from $57.43 to $62.82 (Rs 3,896.29 to Rs 4,261.97) per barrel, and diesel rates shot up from $56.79 to $60.97 (Rs 3,852.87 to Rs 4,136.46) a barrel, reported Mint.

Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp revise the fuel rates on the 1st and 16th of every month based on the average international price in the previous fortnight. On December 1, petrol rates were increased by 13 paise a litre, while diesel prices were slashed by 12 paise.