The oil marketing companies (OMCs) on Tuesday continued with the auto fuel price revision by raising retail selling price (RSP) of petrol and diesel in the range of 74-85 paise a litre for the 13th time since March 22.
Post this hike, prices have been raised by around ₹8.99-9.41 per litre each for petrol and diesel, respectively. OMCs resumed daily price revision on March 22 after a hiatus of 137 days.
Following the price revision, rate of petrol, or motor spirit (MS), in the national capital is now ₹104.61 per litre (up 80 paise) while revised rates in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata are ₹119.67 per litre (up 84 paise), ₹110.09 a litre (up 75 paise), and ₹114.28 per litre (up 83 paise), respectively.
Similarly, with the hike in diesel, or high speed diesel (HSD), the commodity’s prices in Delhi is now ₹95.87 a litre (up 80 paise). The diesel prices in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata are now ₹103.92 a litre (up 85 paise), ₹100.18 per litre (up 76 paise) and ₹99.02 per litre (up 80 paise), respectively.
On Monday, the prices of compressed natural gas (CNG) in Delhi have been hiked by ₹2.5 per kg. The price of CNG now stands at ₹64.11 per kg, effective Monday in Delhi. This is the seventh increase in CNG prices in the last month. Overall, rates have gone up by about ₹6.5 per kg.
On April 1, the price of piped natural gas (PNG) in Delhi was hiked by ₹5 per Standard Cubic Metre (SCM) to ₹41.61 per SCM.
India prices up only 5 per cent
Meanwhile the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday in a discussion in Lok Sabha on the situation in Ukraine said, “At the height of Covid, March 2020, the gas prices were $19.56 a barrel. They (crude oil prices) went up in 2021 to $60-80. On February 24, when the military action took place, they suddenly shot up to $92 then to $124 and went up to $130. Are we the only country facing such a situation.
On price revision on petrol and diesel, the Minister said, “We have increased the price of petrol by about ₹9 over 12-13 days, when international prices have shot up. Comparing gasoline (petrol) prices between April 2021 and March 2022, the prices in US have increased by 51 per cent, Canada 52 per cent, Germany 55 per cent, UK 55 per cent, France 50 per cent, Spain 58 per cent, but in India it is 5 per cent. Our percentage increase is one-tenth of prices increased in other countries.”
Price revision
The OMCs had stopped daily price revision of petrol and diesel since November 4, 2021 due to assembly elections in five States, including the politically significant Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.
The last revision took place on November 3, 2021 with petrol prices being revised to a record ₹110.04 a litre and diesel at ₹98.42 a litre in Delhi. The prices in Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai were higher.
A day later, to offer respite to the common man and check rising inflation, the central government reduced central excise duty on petrol and diesel by ₹5 and ₹10 per litre, respectively. Following this reduction, many States also reduced VAT on petrol and diesel.
Domestic petrol and diesel prices are linked to international costs of the two fuels, which move proportionally to crude oil prices. The daily price revision mechanism was started in June 2017. OMCs generally revise auto fuel rates on a daily basis in line with the average price of benchmark fuels in the global market in the last 15 days.