Chairman M S Ramachandran has raised the demand in a letter to the Union ministry of petroleum and natural gas.
IOC is asking for a hike on two grounds. First sales of high speed diesel (HSD) grew by only 0.6 per cent in 2002-03 against sales in 2001-02.
Second, SKO imports by private players has increased by 130 per cent to 698 thousand metric tonne (TMT) in 2002-03 from 301 TMT in 2001-02. Further in April 2003, SKO imports by private players was 76 TMT.
Ramachandran apprehends that at this rate SKO imports may cross one million metric tonne in 2003-04.
He has also pointed out that SKO sales through public distribution system (PDS) has declined.
