Jet fuel price hiked by 8.6%; subsidised LPG by Rs 2 a cylinder

Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price was on Sunday hiked by a steep 8.6 per cent and subsidised LPG rate raised by Rs 2 per cylinder, the 8th increase in cooking gas price in seven months.

ATF, or jet fuel, price was hiked by Rs 4,161 per kilolitre (kl), or 8.6 per cent, to Rs 52,540.63 per kl in Delhi. The hike comes on back of a 3.7 per cent cut in rates last month.

Also, the rate of subsidised LPG rate was hiked by Rs 2 per 14.2-kg cylinder and it will now cost Rs 434.71 a bottle as against Rs 432.71 previously, according to state-owned Oil companies.

 

This is the 8th increase in price since July when the government decided to go in for a small hikes of up to Rs 2 per bottle every month to cut down its subsidy outgo.

LPG rates were last hiked on December 1 by Rs 2.07 per cylinder.

The government had last year decided to take the diesel route for eliminating subsidies on LPG and kerosene. Diesel price was deregulated in November 2014 after the previous UPA government effected 50 paise hikes every month to bridge the gap with retail price and its international cost.

The Rs 2 per cylinder hike in LPG every month is also aimed at achieving the same purpose. In case of kerosene, the government has allowed state-owned oil companies to raise the price by 25 paise a litre every fortnight for 10 months. The 10th hike in kerosene, since July, was effected on Sunday.

A litre of kerosene now costs Rs 18.28 in Mumbai. Delhi has been declared a kerosene-free state and no subsidised PDS kerosene is sold in the national capital.

The price of non-subsidised cooking gas (LPG), which consumers buy after exhausting quota of 12 bottles of 14.2-kg each per household in a year, was hiked by Rs 1 to Rs 585. The hike comes on the back of Rs 54.5 hike on December 1.

Oil firms revise rates of ATF and cooking gas on 1st of every month based on oil price and foreign exchange rate in the preceding month.