A hike in diesel and domestic LPG prices has been deferred for now, but an increase in petrol prices later this week looks imminent.
An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was to meet tomorrow to consider raising the diesel price by Rs 3-4 a litre and domestic LPG rates by Rs 20-25 per cylinder, but the meeting was deferred without assigning any reason.
"No new date has been intimated to us so far," an Oil Ministry official said here.
State-owned oil firms, however, are likely to get the go-ahead to raise the price of petrol, which they have not revised since January on informal 'advice' from the government in view of Assembly elections in five states.
"Petrol prices may be raised as early as Thursday-Friday night," the official said, adding a steep hike of up to Rs 3 per litre of petrol is on the cards.
The government had freed petrol prices from its control last June, but state oil firms continue to be guided by informal advice from the government.
The hike needed to take petrol prices to international parity is about Rs 8.50 per litre, but the entire burden will not be passed on to consumers in one go. "Oil companies will be asked to stagger the hike over a couple of months," the official said.
State-owned Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum currently lose Rs 16.17 a litre on diesel and after adding local sales tax or VAT, the desired increase to make rates at par with international prices is Rs 18.19 a litre.
Besides petrol and diesel, the three state oil firms lose Rs 29.69 a litre on kerosene and Rs 329.73 per 14.2-kg domestic LPG cylinder.
Officially on the EGoM's agenda was ways of mitigating the over Rs 180,000 crore revenue loss state-owned oil firms have projected in 2011-12 on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene at current rates.
The three firms will "at current international crude oil prices lose Rs 180,208 crore in revenues on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below their imported cost in the 2011-12 fiscal," the official said.
The revenue loss, termed as under-recovery by oil firms, will be the highest ever, even more than what they lost in 2008-09 when crude touched a record high of $147 a barrel.
In addition, they lose about Rs 8.50 per litre on petrol, whose rates have not moved in tandem with the imported cost despite its pricing being freed from government control in June last year.
"Losses on petrol are not included in the under-recovery figures for 2011-12 as it is a decontrolled commodity," the official said.
