Government-run oil marketing companies once again hiked the prices of petrol and diesel, applicable from Wednesday midnight.

The prices of petrol and diesel were hiked by 70 paise and 50 paise, respectively, per litre. The actual increases in the rates of the fuels at pumps will be even higher because of the incremental increase in local taxes.

Following the revision in the prices, petrol price in Delhi jumped by 84 paise to Rs 71.28 a litre, while diesel now costs Rs 51.40 a litre.

Announcing the hikes, Indian Oil Corp (IOC) said, "Since the last price change, the international price of petrol has gone up from $117.19 per barrel to $120.05."

Since June this year, it was the fifth increase made by the retailers in petrol price and the prices of the fuel have jumped by Rs 6.82 a litre. On June 1, the prices were raised by 75 paise. Later, the fuel was made dearer by Rs 2 a litre on June 16, by Rs 1.82 a litre on June 29 and by Rs 1.55 a litre on July 15.

The hike in price of diesel is in line with the government's decision that allowed fuel retailers to increase the fuel's price in small doses every month until the gap between the fuel's rate at pumps and in the market are not wiped out.