Pump Price of petrol is highest in Andhra Pradesh, while Gujarat has lowest, a comparison of price in 20 States and Union Territory showed. Meanwhile, government source claimed that even after three rounds of revision, price hike of petrol and diesel is lowest in the world.

According to data compiled by government officials, three States have petrol above ₹112 a litre after the latest revisions: Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala. “These three states levy the highest VAT rates in the country,” said a source while adding that Andhra Pradesh charges 31 per cent VAT (Value Added Tax) along with ₹4 a litre plus a road development cess, taking the effective rate close to 35 per cent.

Telangana takes petrol close to ₹116. Kerala adds a social security cess on top of its base VAT. Six states have petrol at or below ₹102 a litre: Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Goa and Assam. “All six are governed by the BJP. The same opposition leaderships that ask the central government to cut excise duty for the relief of the consumer have at no point cut the value added tax their own state governments levy on the same litre of fuel,” another source said.

According to him, when the central excise duty was cut on March 27 by ₹10 a litre on petrol and diesel, the BJP-ruled states passed the full cut through to the pump. The Congress-ruled and INDIA-bloc states did not separately reduce VAT, which means the consumer in those states still pays more than the consumer in a BJP-ruled state directly because of state taxation. “The framing that the central government overtaxes fuel collapses against the state-level data. The states that tax fuel hardest are not the centre. They are the political opponents of the centre,” he said.

Between the Russia–Ukraine war that began in February 2022 and the Hormuz disruption that began in February 2026, the international price of crude oil has been through two of the sharpest disturbances since the 1970s. Brent has crossed $120 twice in that window. Every major importing economy in the world has passed on the cost to its consumers, in some cases several times over. India has done the opposite. “Across the same four years the Indian government has cut the retail price of petrol and diesel four times, the last of those cuts coming on the eve of the Hormuz disruption itself,” the first source said.

According to him, India is the only major economy in the world to have cut retail fuel prices through the Russia–Ukraine window. India is the only major economy in the world to have held retail fuel prices essentially unchanged through the first seventy-six days of the Hormuz disruption. “The cumulative OMC revision of just under ₹5 a litre across 15, 19 and 23 May 2026 is the smallest material upward movement of any major economy outside the directly subsidising Gulf producers,” he said.

Published on May 23, 2026