Petrol, Diesel and CNG Prices in September 2026: Metro Rates as Crude Hits $117

Petrol and Diesel Prices Frozen Through September 2026

September closed exactly where it began for petrol and diesel buyers in India. Pump rates in every major metro are unchanged since May 2026, when oil marketing companies (OMCs) raised prices by ₹7.35 per litre on petrol and ₹7.53 per litre on diesel across four rounds. That freeze held through the entire month, even as the festival season ramp-up put more cars on the road and global crude went the wrong way.

Why Pump Prices Held Despite $117 Crude

The stability at the pump is not because fuel got cheaper to import. The Indian crude basket jumped to $117.4 per barrel on 21 September, against a 2025-26 average of around $66, as the renewed US-Iran conflict, the shutdown of Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline and Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping squeezed supplies. India imports over 85 percent of its crude requirement.

State-run OMCs are absorbing the shock instead of passing it on. Rating agency ICRA estimates their marketing margins at minus ₹8 per litre on petrol and minus ₹9 per litre on diesel, adding up to a daily loss of about ₹530 crore. The strain is visible elsewhere: private retailers Jio-bp and Nayara Energy have capped diesel sales at 50 and 70-200 litres per customer per day respectively, as bulk buyers chase the cheaper retail pump price.

CNG Was the Real Mover This Month

While petrol and diesel froze, CNG moved. Indraprastha Gas raised Delhi CNG by ₹3.89 per kg to ₹86.98 with effect from 29 August, its fifth increase since the West Asia conflict began, taking the cumulative rise in Delhi to nearly ₹10 per kg this year. Mahanagar Gas followed with a ₹2 per kg hike in Mumbai from 1 September, taking the city to ₹88 per kg. Hyderabad now has the costliest metro CNG at ₹112 per kg, which narrows the running-cost gap that justifies paying a premium for a CNG variant over a comparable petrol car on our Compare page.

What This Means for You

For now, your festive-season running costs are locked at May levels for petrol and diesel, but not for long if crude stays elevated. Chief Economic Advisor V. Anantha Nageswaran has said the burden may again be shared between the government, OMCs and consumers if prices persist into October and November. ICRA's math suggests a hike of ₹4-6 per litre would neutralise OMC losses if Brent averages $105-115 per barrel. If you are cross-shopping a CNG car, recalculate the payback with your city's current rate rather than last year's, and remember rates reset at 6 am daily. We will track every revision in AUTOINDIA's fuel coverage.

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(Sources: BusinessToday daily fuel price trackers, 29/09/2026; IGL and MGL price announcements reported by The Hindu, Outlook Business and CNBC-TV18; ICRA note dated 23/09/2026; ThePrint report on CEA comments, 25/09/2026. Cover image: Ganesh Dhamodkar via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Mid-article image: Ask27 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)