Cooking gas LPG prices may be hiked next week after under-recovery on the fuel widened to over Rs 100 per cylinder, sources said insisting that the rate hike, including the quantum of increase, is dependent on government permission. If allowed, this will be the fifth increase in cooking gas rates across all categories - households using subsidised gas for cooking and heating purposes, non-subsidised fuel and industrial-sized gas. LPG rates were last hiked by Rs 15 per cylinder on October 6, taking the total increase in rates since July to Rs 90 per 14.2-kg cylinder.
Indian refiners are likely to import 2-2.2 million barrels per day of Russian crude oil in June - the highest in the last two years and more than the total volumes bought from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, preliminary data by global trade analytics firm Kpler showed.
Petrol and diesel prices will not be hiked immediately as the Cabinet on Friday did not discuss the issue, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.
India Against Corruption on Friday alleged that the opposition to the hike in diesel price by political parties was a "drama" and demanded immediate rollback of the increase in fuel price.
The government has reduced the windfall profit tax levied on domestically-produced crude oil as well as on the export of diesel and ATF, in line with softening international oil prices, according to an official order. The levy on crude oil produced by companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has been cut to Rs 1,900 per tonne from Rs 2,100 per tonne, the order dated January 16, said. Crude oil pumped out of the ground and from below the seabed is refined and converted into fuel like petrol, diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF).
Amid an outcry over record high petrol and diesel prices, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the Centre and state governments will have to together work out a mechanism to bring retail rates to reasonable levels.
In a bid to lower the impact of an unavoidable hike in petrol and diesel prices, Oil Minister Murli Deora has asked states like Delhi and Andhra Pradesh to lower sales tax (VAT) on auto fuels and shift towards specific rates.
Reliance Industries, India's largest private fuel retailer, may cut petrol and diesel prices by about Re one per litre on Thursday in step with a fall in international oil prices.
Petrol price on Saturday breached the Rs 83 per litre-mark in Delhi for the first time in more than two years after a rally in international oil prices forced a 13th increase in rates in the last fortnight. Petrol price on Saturday was raised by 27 paise per litre and diesel by 25 paise, according to a price notification of oil marketing companies. Petrol price in Delhi rose to Rs 83.13 per litre from Rs 82.86. Diesel rates went up from Rs 73.07 to Rs 73.32 per litre.
Here's how political leaders reacted to the government's decision to hike the price of diesel by Rs 5 and limit the number of subsidised gas cylinders to six per household per year.
India has taken up the issue of high oil prices with producer nations and OPEC, demanding affordable rates, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameswar Teli told the Lok Sabha on Monday. Petrol and diesel prices have shot up to record highs across the country after relentless price increases since early May. Petrol is retailing above Rs 100 a litre in more than a dozen states.
The principal Opposition party said an immediate cut in petrol and diesel prices was required in the larger interest of the nation. The BJP also demanded that interest rate on housing loans be brought down to 6 per cent and a real push be given for infrastructure development to 'avoid a catastrophe'.
The Congresshas announced a three-phased campaign, "Mehngai-mukt Bharat Abhiyaan".
Low oil prices drove the growth in states' share faster than expected, says Abhishek Waghmare.
Despite a massive decline in crude oil prices since 2012 -- Modi has been prime minister in six of these eight years -- petrol in Delhi has become 10 per cent costlier and diesel 97 per cent, as of July 2.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday hoped that the reduction in petrol and diesel prices would to some extent help ease inflation.
The price differential has been upwards of 20%.
The government has raised the windfall profit tax levied on domestically produced crude oil as well as on the export of diesel and ATF, in line with firming international oil prices, according to an official order. The levy on crude oil produced by companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has been increased to Rs 2,100 per tonne from Rs 1,700 per tonne, the order dated January 2, said. Crude oil pumped out of the ground and from below the seabed is refined and converted into fuel like petrol, diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF).
This may come as a surprise to many. Retail price inflation in petrol was the lowest at 10.21 per cent in March since November 2020. In diesel, it scraped the bottom of the barrel at 5.19 per cent in the last month of 2021-22 since February 2020. Even liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) was at a nine-month low of 9.97 per cent in the month.
The government on Wednesday announced a cut of Rs 2 per litre in petrol and Re 1 in diesel prices from midnight tonight.
If the current trend continues, diesel will be deregulated in three months.
Clean air needs action all year round; and that it will work only if we act jointly and at scale, asserts Sunita Narain.
State-run oil companies on Monday increased prices of diesel and petrol by Re 1 per litre each.
After natural gas prices, the government looks set to bite the bullet on auto fuel prices, with a panel of ministers scheduled to meet on June 7 to decide on freeing petrol and diesel prices.
The government has cut windfall profit tax on export of diesel and ATF to their lowest while also reducing the levy on domestically-produced crude in line with softening international oil prices, according to an official order. The levy on crude oil produced by companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has been cut to Rs 4,350 per tonne from Rs 5,050 per tonne, the order dated February 15 said. Crude oil pumped out of the ground and from below the seabed is refined and converted into fuels like petrol, diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF).
BPCL gained nearly 4% to Rs 674, while HPCL gained more than 2% to Rs 451.
A rise in petrol and diesel consumption can help the government cut cesses on the fuels by Rs 4.5 a litre without impacting revenue collections of FY21, and help cool off the pressure on inflation, domestic rating agency ICRA said on Friday. Petrol consumption is estimated to increase 14 per cent in 2021-22 and diesel by 10 per cent on the lower base, rise in mobility and economic recovery, ICRA said. The rating agency added that it will result in an additional Rs 40,000 crore in revenue for the government through higher collections of the cess.
Petrol and diesel prices will go up by Rs 2.67 a litre and Rs 2.58 per litre, respectively, after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday raised customs and excise duties on the two, virtually putting the Kirit Parikh Committee report on fuel price in cold storage.
Petrol gets expensive but diesel is cheaper by Rs 1.35/ per litre.
The new prices will be effective from Friday midnight.
Essar Oil has cut petrol and diesel prices by an average of Rs 1.50 a litre to bring them at par with that of public sector firms.
While hinting that further cut in petrol and diesel prices was likely during the next revision, Petroleum Minister Ram Naik on Saturday ruled out any possibility of increase in prices of LPG and kerosene
India's oil minister Murli Deora said on Saturday that the\ngovernment would consider a downward revision of fuel prices if international crude\nprices came down.
The government ruled out any major jump in petrol and diesel prices after the elections, but said a review to bring the domestic prices in line with the raw material cost will be done by the new government.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee is believed to be in favour of giving state-run oil firms freedom to fix price of petrol and diesel in step with cost, as he feels the current moderate global oil rates may be the last window India has to deregulate fuel pricing.
BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday said it is not possible to bring petrol and diesel under the GST regime for the next eight to 10 years as it would cause an annual revenue loss of Rs 2 lakh crore to all states. Centre and states collectively collect over Rs 5 lakh crore tax on petroleum products, Modi told the Rajya Sabha while participating in a discussion on the Finance Bill 2021. The statement assumes significance in view of the rise in petrol price for the past over one year which even touched Rs 100 per litre in some states. In the first reduction in rates in over a year, petrol price on Wednesday was cut by 18 paise per litre and diesel by 17 paise a litre as international oil prices tumbled to the lowest since early February.
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.
With the 72-hour deadline to the Centre to rollback diesel price hike, LPG subsidy cap and FDI in multi-brand retail expiring on Monday, the Trinamool Congress mounted fresh pressure with a Union minister belonging to it listing three options, including withdrawal of support to the United Progressive Alliance.
Describing the hike in diesel prices as a cruel joke and a "mortal blow" to the common man and farmers, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday accused the government of conspiring with the petrol 'mafia'. "This is a cruel joke on the common man. It has hit farmers hard during the peak paddy sowing season. We will not allow this hike. We will not allow this government to loot the common man like this," said BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.
It is time he stood up and assured the middle class that they can count on him as one of their own, says Dr Sudhir Bisht.
