For the first time in nearly three years, petrol price has been slashed on Tuesday, by Rs 2.22 a litre.

The reduction more than erases the steep Rs 1.80 a litre hike in rate announced earlier this month. It eases the pressure on the government ahead of the winter session of Parliament beginning next week.

Both the Opposition and the UPA allies had strongly criticised the UPA for allowing state-owned oil companies to increase petrol price at a time when headline inflation was nearing double digits.

Petrol in Delhi will cost Rs 66.42 per litre from Tuesday midnight against the current rate of Rs 68.64 a litre, the three oil marketing companies said.

“We had gained Rs 1.85 per litre (excluding all taxes) since the last price revision because of a fall in global oil rates and a marginal appreciation in rupee value. We are passing this on to consumers,” Indian Oil Corp (IOC) Chairman R S Butola told in New Delhi.

After adding 20 per cent local sales tax or VAT, the decrease in Delhi comes to Rs 2.22 per litre.

This is the first reduction in petrol price since January 2009 when rates were cut by Rs 5 per litre.

Before that the then Oil Minister Murli Deora had made oil firms slash petrol price by an equal proportion in December 2008.

The reduction in Mumbai was Rs 2.34 per liter while in Kolkata it was Rs 2.31 a litre. The price cut in Chennai was Rs 2.35 per litre.

Following are the revised rates of petrol in the four metros after Tuesday midnight’s cut in prices.

Current      Revised      Increase

Price          Price           Price

Delhi      68.64      66.42           2.22

Kolkata 73.15      70.84           2.31

Mumbai 73.81      71.47           2.34

Chennai 72.73      70.38           2.35

(All rates in Rs/litre)