Patna: Diesel prices climbed to an all-time high in the city on Saturday, as state-owned oil companies continue to pass the rise in international oil prices to consumers.

The hike has fuelled anger among transporters and residents alike, the latter seeking respite from hike in price of essentials because of the increased fuel prices.

According to a Bharat Petroleum filling station at Dakbunglow roundabout, diesel climbed to a record high of Rs 74.69 per litre while petrol touched Rs 83.83 on Saturday.

Transporters said they were bearing the brunt. "We are the worst hit because of the skyrocketing price of diesel," said Sahil Sinha, the president of City Bus Service Owners' Association, in Patna. "The prices are revised daily but we cannot increase the fare regularly. We have been left with no option than to increase the fare because of continuous spurt in diesel prices."

"A slew of international factors are at play. International oil prices are rising because of fears of lesser global supply caused by sanctions on Iran," said Prabhat Kumar Sinha, the president of Bihar Petroleum Dealers' Association. "It rose by up to 1 per cent on Friday, putting pressure on oil companies to hike rates."

Explaining the other factors, Prabhat said: "The recent weakening of the Indian rupee against the dollar is also putting additional pressure on the prices of petrol and diesel."

In economics, the decline of a currency in value in comparison with the dollar is called "weakening". In India's context, it is weakening of the Indian rupee. The trend may lead to depletion of foreign exchange reserves because imports become costlier as more dollars are needed to purchase the same good, which lead to higher inflation with the subsequent increase in prices of daily commodities.

Amit Kumar Singh from Ashok Rajpath said: "The central government should either reduce taxes on fuel or bring it under the ambit of goods and services tax (GST). The general public get affected when fuel prices increase."

He added that the transportation cost was rising besides the prices of vegetables, fruits and every household item.

The Centre levies Rs 19.48 excise duty on per litre of petrol and Rs 15.33 on per litre of diesel. The total tax incidence on petrol comes to 45-50 per cent and on diesel, it is 35-40 per cent. Moreover, the state government levies 26 per cent and 19 per cent VAT on petrol and diesel, respectively.

The NDA government had raised excise duty on petrol by Rs 11.77 a litre and that on diesel by Rs 13.47 a litre in nine instalments between November 2014 and January 2016 to shore up finances as global oil prices fell but then cut the tax just once in October last year by Rs 2 a litre.