A litre of petrol would have cost just Rs 13.64 in Delhi but for the number of levies and taxes on it which jack up the retail selling price to Rs 32.49 per litre, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

The retail selling price of petrol without duties and taxes in Delhi was Rs 13.64 a litre, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Santosh Kumar Gangwar said in a written reply to the Upper House of Parliament.

Similarly, a litre of petrol without duties and taxes would cost just Rs 13.31 in Mumbai as against the present retail selling price of Rs 37.52 per litre, while that in Kolkata would be Rs 13.36 as opposed to Rs 34 per litre sale price.

In Chennai, retail selling price of petrol without duties and taxes would have been Rs 13.04 a litre instead of Rs 35.48 per litre currently.

The Union government levies 32 per cent excise duty, plus Rs 6 a litre as additional excise duty and Rs 1.50 per litre cess for road development. Besides, state governments levy sales tax on petrol.

To another question, Gangwar said that with the dismantling of the administered pricing mechanism in the petroleum sector, effective April 1, 2002, the price of all petroleum products except for kerosene and domestic gas have been decontrolled.

"The oil companies are now fixing the prices of the petroleum products after taking into account the prevalent oil prices in the international market," he said.