This is the third reduction in rates in one month.
Clean air needs action all year round; and that it will work only if we act jointly and at scale, asserts Sunita Narain.
Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chairman C Rangarajan on Thursday pitched for a "substantial" increase in prices of diesel and cooking gas, saying failure to take strong steps would derail the fiscal consolidation process.
IOC said the movement of prices in the international oil market and INR-USD exchange rate shall continue to be monitored closely
Accusing the government of 'violating Parliamentary propriety', BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said the move to hike petrol and diesel prices "raises suspicion as to which companies will be benefited by this decision." "The government has been saying that the public sector oil companies have been making profits and giving dividends to it. Then why this secrecy," she asked. Swaraj attacked the Congress for 'betraying' the common people.
Under-recovery or revenue loss on diesel has risen to Rs 10.48 per litre from Rs 9.99 a litre in the first fortnight of December, an official statement said in New Delhi.
The government will cut petrol and diesel prices after Assembly elections are over on December 24, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said on Tuesday.
The Congress is yet to form a government at the Centre but it faces the prospect of being credited with a highly unpopular decision of a one-rupee per litre hike in petrol and diesel prices.
Petrol price can go down to Rs 75 a litre across the country if brought under the ambit of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), but there is a lack of political will, which is keeping Indian oil product prices at one of the highest in the world, economists at SBI said on Thursday.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora has announced that the cabinet will soon take a decision on fuel price hike.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, is also believed to be in favour of decontrolling auto fuel prices to limit the government's subsidy outgo but a decision is unlikely in the next 7-10 days as United Progressive Alliance managers build political consensus on the issue, an oil ministry official said.
It was trouble from the word go in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha which saw Opposition members on their feet demanding rollback of the petrol and diesel price hike that resulted from Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's Budget proposals.
Diesel price should be freed, open market grain purchases should be ended.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs did not take up the issue of hike in petroleum prices on Thursday, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said.
National Democratic Alliance on Saturday lambasted the United progressive Alliance government for its decision to hike diesel prices every month and said a meeting of alliance partners would be convened to chalk out a strategy to be adopted during the upcoming Budget Session of Parliament on price rise.
The government on Wednesday broadly hinted about a hike in petrol and diesel prices, saying although it has kept retail prices unchanged it cannot do so for long given the rise in crude oil rates.
The Prime Minister-appointed B K Chaturvedi panel is believed to have suggested raising fuel prices every month to bring them at par with production cost and has sought imposition of a 'Super Profit Tax' on oil fields awarded before 1999.
It will soon be two years since petrol was decontrolled, but few will happily celebrate this second birthday.
"For 2010-11 and beyond, the Kirit Parikh report will be the benchmark. The report is being studied.These decisions are politically sensitive issues and have to be sustained over a period of time," Petroleum Secretary S Sundareshan told Business Standard. "It is impossible to insulate the Indian consumer against the movement in international oil prices."
The government is likely to give public sector oil firms limited autonomy to fix petrol and diesel prices within a narrow price band once international markets stablise, Oil Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said on Monday.
No change in retail prices as oil marketing firms to absorb increase
Petrol prices in Delhi rose by Rs 4 a litre, while diesel rates rose by Rs 2 a litre, Oil Minister Murli Deora told reporters after a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi.
The three government oil marketing companies, Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum, are losing Rs 320 crore a day as they sell at subsidised rates.
The Planning Commission on Tuesday called for linking petrol and diesel prices with international markets and made a case for raising gas prices by public sector companies.
Many individual states experienced higher inflation than the all-India figures during the financial year 2023-24 (FY24). Retail inflation figures in Telangana, Haryana, Rajasthan and Dadra and Nagar Haveli have been higher than national numbers every month of this financial year, shows a Business Standard analysis of state-wise figures, after the March inflation data was released on Friday. Experts noted that persistent high food inflation along with differences in the weights of rural and urban indices plays into the regional variation in inflation rates.
Oil Minister Murli Deora has said that petrol and diesel prices would not be cut till crude oil prices fell to $67 a barrel, since the depreciation in the rupee against the US dollar had eroded gains from falling oil prices, which touched a 7-month low.
The dollar devaluation has seen revenue loss incurred by state-run oil firms on fuel sales trimming to about Rs 96 crore per day.
The oil companies will meet on Friday for the review meeting on pricing in which petrol price could be increased by Re 1 and diesel prices by 50 paise by this weekend.
Petrol prices were on Wednesday hiked by Rs 3.07.
Quibbling between the Centre and the states on who should provide more relief to consumers on fuel prices intensified with the latter asking the Union Government to give an account of accruals to it from the latest hike in petrol and diesel prices.
CNG price in the national capital and adjoining cities on Tuesday was hiked by Rs 0.50 per kg, while an imminent increase in petrol and diesel price has been put on wait-and-watch mode for more clarity on global oil prices. CNG price in NCT of Delhi has been increased to Rs 57.51 per kg from Rs 56.51, according to the information posted on the website of Indraprastha Gas Ltd - the firm which retails CNG and piped cooking gas in the national capital. Following the firming up of international gas rates, IGL has been raising CNG rates by up to 50 paise (Rs 0.50) per kg periodically. Prices have gone up by about Rs 4 per kg this year alone.
Six non-BJP ruled states -- West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Kerala and Jharkhand -- have not reduced the VAT on petroleum products, leading to higher prices of petrol and diesel there, Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday. Puri said in Lok Sabha that the central government has reduced excise duty on petroleum products and some other states, following cues, reduced their Value Added Tax (VAT). Six states -- West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Kerala and Jharkhand -- have not reduced the VAT, he said amidst vocal protests by the opposition members.
The government on Monday ruled out any immediate increase in petrol and diesel prices despite a spurt in international crude oil prices.
Several members had moved adjournment motions to raise the issue, but Speaker Meira Kumar said she has not accepted the demand.
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.
Petroleum and oil marketing companies raised the price of commercial liquid petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders by Rs 350.50 per unit and domestic LPG cylinders by Rs 50 per unit with immediate effect from Wednesday.
Petrol and diesel prices are unlikely to be hiked in the near future, with Finance Minister P Chidambaram agreeing in-principle to share a third of the revenue loss that state-run oil firms incur on sale of fuel
