Generally, there is a price difference of around Rs 100,000 between petrol and diesel cars.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a December ruling that temporarily banned the sale of large diesel cars in New Delhi to combat toxic smog in India's capital.
Petrol price had been cut 10 times since August 2014.
Petrol now costs Rs 59.99 per litre as against Rs 59.03 a litre previously.
Maruti Suzuki India has hiked prices of its diesel cars by up to Rs 10,000 with effect from Monday on account of higher input costs and appreciation of Japanese yen.
It has been a week since 41 labourers got trapped inside an under-construction tunnel at Silkyara in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi district after parts of the structure collapsed following a landslide last Sunday.
With the latest diesel price rise, coming after a rollback of most of the earlier proposals for a passenger fare increase, Indian Railways' operational surplus is expected to come down by 24 per cent, to Rs 11,707 crore (Rs 117.07 billion) in 2012-13 as against the Rs 15,557 crore (Rs 155.57 billion) anticipated at the beginning of the financial year.
Almost one and a half year after tying up with Reliance Brands, a unit of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, Diesel opened its first store in Mumbai in April this year.
Petrol price will be cheaper by 49 paise/litre and diesel by Rs 1.21.
DaimlerChrysler India, which has a jatropha bio-diesel programme in place, said it would test its cars using the alternate fuel in Leh and other regions of the Himalayas.
In 2010, the govt had taken an "in-principle" decision to deregulate diesel prices, but could not implement it due to political pressure.
This car is touted to be Chevrolet's next big thing in India.
The Delhi government on Monday started a process of deregistering 15-year-old diesel vehicles in the city and also imposed a ban on use of fire crackers except for religious functions, following directions from Lt Governor Najeeb Jung to bring down air pollution.
Petrol price may be reduced by about Re 1 per litre while diesel price may be hiked by 40-50 paisa a litre from March 15/16.
The Union oil ministry is considering a proposal to adopt differential pricing for diesel, under which industrial users like power utilities, will be charged market prices and retail consumers continue to be subsidised.
Finance ministry officials said the issue had been raised several times before, but this time it was serious in the wake of huge differential between the two fuel options.
A top oil ministry official said it will be "suicidal" to even think of raising prices of diesel, LPG or kerosene just before Parliament is to meet.
The retail selling price of petrol at Delhi would come down by Rs 1.82 a litre.
Giving a quiet burial to the decision to dismantle Administered Pricing Mechanism for petroleum products, the government on Thursday said it will control the pricing of sensitive products like LPG, kerosene and diesel.
Plans to increase price progressively.
The government is preparing a national hydrogen road map and will launch a national mission on bio-diesel next month as part of efforts to encourage use of alternate fuels, the Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
Although diesel vehicles currently account for 30 per cent of the 1.2 million sold in India, the share is expected to climb to 45 per cent of the projected 2 million market by 2010.
The government has partially deregulated diesel price allowing a hike of 40-50 paise a litre per month for retail customers and nearly Rs 11 for bulk consumers, a step that is feared will have a cascading effect on inflation.
The price reduction will be effective midnight tonight, announced Indian Oil Corp
"Beat with a one-litre diesel engine will also be coming in June this year," General Motors India Vice-President P Balendran said after unveiling the LPG variant of the compact car here.
The surge in diesel vehicle demand has prompted the companies to explore options such as developing new engines as well as buying these from other companies.
A litre of diesel will cost Rs 48.01 compared to Rs 49.31 at present
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Saturday said the government is considering to prices of petroleum products in the next few days.
Oil companies on Wednesday slashed petrol and diesel prices by Rs 2, with effect from midnight tonight.
The increases, which follow similar hikes in mid-November, seek to take advantage of a slump in world oil prices to shore up government revenues without stoking inflation.
This increase excludes local levies. The actual hike after considering VAT would be Rs 2.84 per litre in Delhi for petrol and Rs 2.11 for diesel.
The government on Tuesday ruled out any further increase in diesel and cooking fuel prices even though the current retail rates are lower than their cost of production.
With the rupee continuing to remain weak against the US dollar, losses on diesel have climbed to Rs 9.45 per litre, upsetting the government's subsidy maths.
Government may impose a 25 per cent cess on big diesel cars and charge bulk users other than railways and state transport corporations Rs 22 a litre more for diesel as part of a dual fuel pricing policy.
The current complex pricing of diesel will give rise to bribery and law-breaking.
To help cut down on current account deficit.
Raise the price of diesel and restrict supply of subsidised LPG cylinder in a year to four per family, Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Panel suggested on Friday.
"We had announced last year that the decision would be taken at an appropriate time to deregulate diesel, the government hasn't changed their decision... We have to see how the inflationary pressures go and take a decision," Revenue Secretary Sunil Mitra told reporters on the sidelines of an Assocham function.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances