Oil companies not to roll back price hike

Oil companies in the state have refused to roll back the hike in prices of petroleum and diesel to pre-April 1 level as demanded by the Andhra Pradesh government yesterday.

Reaffirming their position on the decision to increase the prices, the representatives of oil companies on Monday told the government that they have effected the price hike as the 2 per cent turnover tax (TOT), hitherto non-transferable, has now become recoverable with the abolition of the old Act.

The day-long discussions with the officials of oil companies by the commissioner of commercial taxes at his office, remained inconclusive.

However, the officials said that another meeting is scheduled to be held on April 8, 2005 to discuss the issue further.

"We are following the policies and guidelines of the Union petroleum ministry. We told the same to the commercial taxes officials when they asked us the reasons behind increasing the prices on April 1, 2005 and in September, 2005," an oil company representative told the Business Standard.