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 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.
There is no proposal on the anvil for an increase in prices of diesel, Reddy told reporters after taking charge of the new ministry.
Key infrastructure sectors -- from railways to power, and from coal to petroleum -- will not only be part of the achievements but promises too, as the BJP fights to get a third term at the Centre.
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.
The Maruti Celerio diesel is a peppy car to drive with the right ergonomics.
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 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.
The government on Monday hiked special additional excise duty on crude petroleum to Rs 7,100 per tonne with effect from August 15. In the last fortnightly review, windfall tax on domestically produced crude oil was set at Rs 4,250 per tonne.
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.
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.
The government had, on June 25, freed petrol price from its control resulting in a hike of Rs 3.50 per litre.
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.
The surprise decision of OPEC and its allies, including Russia, to cut oil output may cause an immediate rise in prices, delaying revision in fuel prices in India, industry sources said. The grouping of Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, called OPEC+, on Sunday decided to further cut oil output by around 1.16 million barrels. The move led to Brent rising by almost 6 per cent to $84.58 per barrel on Monday.
The cancer-survivor looked like a rockstar.
Officials from State-run refiners contend that savings from purchase of Russian oil are used to offset a part of the losses in revenues from selling transport fuels and LPG at State-set rates.
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.
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
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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.
India is the second largest buyer of Iranian crude, after China.
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.
The oil industry experienced three upheavals between 1973 and 1991, which seem to be etched in the memory of the industry's decision makers. Naturally, at the sign of a new crisis, the decision makers like to dip into those tumultuous decades to find ways to deal with the new shock, in addition, of course, to expert reports and forecasts. So, the industry bigwigs turned the pages of history to get a peek into the future of oil price movements after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Israel attacked Gaza in 2023, Iran-linked Houthi rebels pounded tankers crossing the Red Sea in support of Palestine the same year, and Iran rained missiles on Israel in 2024.
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.
PSUs to wait and watch, IndianOil says losing Rs 1.37 on every litre of petrol.
This is the third reduction in rates this month
Another factor that works in favour of diesel cars is its 'full-size' mileage, which falls easy on wallet.
The government has asked SIAM members, to provide fresh data which will provide an indication about the diesel vehicle demand in the country.
The ongoing Hamas-Israel conflict has disrupted India's efforts to gain from a recent fall in crude oil prices. Since Hamas' invasion of southern Israel on October 7, petroleum has become costlier by around $5 per barrel, threatening to stoke prices and impact growth. Brent crude was trading at $89.8 per barrel on October 9 (9.15 pm IST), up over 4 per cent, thwarting India's anticipation of a period of declining oil prices - after the leading global petroleum benchmark declined by around 11 per cent last week.
Manufacturers that mainly sell diesel cars like Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Toyota, Mercedes, BMW and Volkswagen anticipate a significant fall in sales if the government accepts the Parikh committee's recommendation of a flat tax of Rs 80,000 on diesel cars, because of a widening cost differential with petrol variants.
The fall in international oil prices had resulted in six consecutive reduction in petrol prices since August and two in diesel in the last one month and there was possibility of another round of cuts this weekend.
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