State-owned oil marketing companies today raised petrol prices by up to Rs 2.54 a litre. The increase, second in 30 days, comes on the back of rising international crude oil prices. With effect from midnight, Indian Oil outlets will sell petrol at Rs 58.37 a litre. The price at HPCL and BPCL will be Rs 58.39 a litre.
With this increase, petrol prices have gone up by nearly Rs 7 a litre, an increase of 13.4 per cent, since being decontrolled last June.
In the last round of increase on December 15, the three oil companies had raised prices by nearly Rs 3 a litre. The companies were losing Rs 1.25 at that time on every litre of the fuel sold. This difference has since widened to more than Rs 2 a litre as international crude oil prices have climbed to $92 a barrel.
The government had freed petrol prices in June last year and it would no longer make good any under-recovery incurred by the marketing companies. Despite the deregulation, the oil marketing companies did not pass on the required increase of Rs 4.17 to the consumer and raised prices by Rs 2.95 a litre. The companies consult the oil ministry before announcing a price increase.
| ON FIRE Petrol price hike by Ioc | ||
| Current price | Price after increase | |
| Delhi | 55.87 | 58.37 |
| Mumbai | 60.46 | 62.96 |
| Kolkata | 59.9 | 62.4 |
| Chennai | 60.65 | 63.15 |
The price of other petroleum products — diesel, kerosene and LPG — which together account for over 60 per cent of petroleum products consumption in India, has not been increased since June 25 last year. Based on the increased crude oil price, the oil marketing companies are expected to incur a revenue loss of Rs 73,000 crore during the current financial year on sale of diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene.
