New Delhi: Inflation burns a hole in the pocket of a common man after the Oil Companies today raised the price of petrol and diesel by 40 paise each per litre on Monday, the 12th day of price revision, taking the total increase in the last two weeks to Rs 8.40 per litre.

Petrol in the national capital is being retailed by Rs 103.81 per litre as against Rs 103.41 previously, while diesel rates have gone up from Rs 94.67 per litre to Rs 95.07, according to a price notification of state fuel retailers.

The first revision after a hiatus of four and half months saw the steepest increase by 80 paise. On the following days, petrol price went up by 50 paise and 30 paise a litre while diesel rose by 55 paise and 35 paise a litre. Petrol price was on Tuesday hiked by 80 paise a litre and diesel by 70 paise.

Prices had been on a freeze since 4 November ahead of the Assembly elections in states like Uttar Pradesh and Punjab — a period during which the cost of raw material (crude oil) soared by about $30 per barrel.

All major cities reported petrol prices above Rs 100 per litre while diesel is above that mark in Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, Raipur and several cities of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Telengana and Andhra Pradesh. 

Diesel currently is the costliest in Chittor in Andhra Pradesh and petrol is the costliest at the border town of Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan.