India's policy to subsidise retail prices of fuels such as diesel, which accounts for about 40 per cent of refined fuel consumption, is a major drain on the budget.
It also demanded increasing the number of liquefied petroleum gas cylinders per family to 12, instead of nine as decided by the government on Thursday.
Petrol price hiked by 60 paise per litre, diesel by 50 paise.
The offer covers the Ritz, Swift, Swift Dzire and Ertiga, and is valid until May 24.
With the government planning to start 20 per cent blending of bio-diesel with diesel, Indian oil companies are fast firming up their bio-diesel ventures.
The fire broke out in an area near the Visakhapatnam Container Terminal and an Indian Oil Corporation facility where fishing boats were anchored.
Decrying the hike in diesel prices as "unjustified" action, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday demanded its roll back and withdrawal of powers granted to oil companies to regulate fuel prices.
Jet fuel or ATF price on Tuesday was hiked by a steep 8.5 per cent - the second increase in a month, while commercial cooking gas rate was cut by Rs 100 per cylinder in line with divergent trends in international benchmarks. Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price was increased by 7,728.38 per kilolitre, or 8.5 per cent, in the national capital to Rs 98,508.26 per kl, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. Rates, which vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT, have been increased on firming up of global rates that followed four months of decline.
The increase in rates announced by oil firms is excluding state levies and the actual hike will be higher.
The government on Thursday hiked petrol and diesel prices by a marginal Rs 0.27 a litre and Rs 0.15 per litre respectively following increase in the commission paid to petrol pump dealers.
State-owned fuel retailers, who control 95 per cent of the petrol pump sales, sell diesel at government-fixed rates, which are way lower than the cost of production.
There is no proposal on the anvil for an increase in prices of diesel, Reddy told reporters after taking charge of the new ministry.
India has asked bulk buyers to pay market rates for diesel since last January and has also been raising the price of subsidised diesel in small amounts every month in an effort to cut its ballooning fuel subsidies.
The government should act quickly to raise diesel rates to bring them in line with global prices in order to reduce its subsidy bill, Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chairman C Ranagarajan has said.
According to Oil Ministry sources, price hike of diesel is being considered as the government scrambles to find ways to meet an unprecedented Rs 160,000 crore (Rs 1,600 billion) deficit expected this fiscal on selling diesel, cooking gas and kerosene below their production cost.
Fiat India on Friday launched diesel versions of its compact car Palio and station wagon Adventure in a bid to achieve a nearly 31 per cent rise in sales at 42,000 cars this year.\n\n
The Maruti Celerio diesel is a peppy car to drive with the right ergonomics.
The government on June 25 deregulated petrol price and said the same for diesel will be done soon. But with inflation rate continuing to remain at unmanageable levels, the government put-off the decision as any further hike in diesel price would lead to cascading effect.
After a spike in crude oil and gas prices in October following the Hamas terror attack, prices eased down 9 per cent month-on-month in November. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and Opec+ agreed to a further voluntary production cut in January-March 2024 to try and support global crude prices. The best guess here is that crude prices (currently at $75/barrel, or bbl) will not likely cross significantly above $80, and gas prices are also likely to remain subdued unless there's a further escalation in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Positioned in the same category as Octavia, the Optra diesel version is competitively priced in the range of Rs 8.73 lakh and Rs 9.99 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), while the latter is being sold in the range of Rs 11.35 lakh to Rs 14 lakh.
Already, the government's resources are strained due to various fiscal stimulus and the Survey has separately noted that high growth environment creates scope for partial rollback of these stimuli.
The government had, on June 25, freed petrol price from its control resulting in a hike of Rs 3.50 per litre.
Global oil prices have slumped and India has access to larger amounts of discounted Russian crude oil, yet refiners are not passing on their savings to consumers
The country has fully switched over to cleaner Euro-III and Euro-IV petrol and diesel as of Wednesday and well ahead of the October one deadline, Minister of State for Petroleum Jitin Prasada said on Thursday.
Amid rising petrol prices, two-wheeler makers such as Mahindra & Mahindra, TVS Motors, Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto are stepping up research to develop engines run on diesel or other fuels.
Share of diesel vehicles has been on the rise in the overall vehicle sales in the country.
Narendra Modi's landslide victory gives him the mandate to deregulate diesel prices as well as raise natural gas rates with a clear road map towards free pricing to cut subsidies and shrink the budget deficit.
Actual reduction in price will be more after taking into account local VAT.
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It is the end of the road for diesel taxis including those run by aggregators like Ola and Uber in Delhi and National Capital Region.
Trinamool Congress, a key constituent of the United Progressive Alliance, on Thursday opposed the hike in diesel prices, saying it was not consulted about the step and demanded its rollback. "We were not consulted for this and we are unhappy with the decision to hike diesel prices," said Railway Minister Mukul Roy.
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This is the second increase in rates of petrol this month while in case of diesel it wipes away a part of the hike effected earlier this month
Diesel and cooking gas (LPG) prices are unlikely to be hiked even after the end of the Monsoon Session of Parliament next week as the government is wary of taking such a decision at a time when it already has political battles on hand.
The government on Wednesday hiked the prices of petrol, diesel and LPG by Rs 5, Rs 3 and Rs 50 respectively.
The National Green Tribunal has stayed ban on diesel car for two weeks.
Petrol price was on Monday hiked by Rs 2.19 a litre and diesel by 98 paise per litre.
PSUs to wait and watch, IndianOil says losing Rs 1.37 on every litre of petrol.
India is the second largest buyer of Iranian crude, after China.
