Since end-May there has been volatility in the foreign exchange market.
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.
Major carmakers like Maruti Suzuki and Honda did not have diesel technology and it is in the last 3-4 years that they invested in diesel vehicles owing to shift in demand towards such models
The Maharashtra government has reduced sales tax on diesel from 34 per cent to 25 per cent.
State-owned Indian Oil Corp wants diesel prices to be freed from government control before its twin follow-on public offersto raise maximum funds, company Chairman B M Bansal said on Monday.
Ahead of assembly polls in states like Rajasthan and Delhi, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily on Tuesday said his ministry is mulling withdrawing the order that made it mandatory for state public transport utilities to buy diesel at market price.
Buoyed by the peace initiatives between the two countries, Pakistan on Tuesday expressed willingness to import diesel from India.
The decision to decrease VAT on diesel from 20 per cent to 12.5 per cent was taken at a cabinet meeting today presided over by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.
The company said despite the recession in global markets, it has invested over Euro 3 billion (Rs 20,000 crore) in 2009 particularly in developing technologies for the low- priced vehicles to improve fuel efficiency.
This is the fourth increase in auto fuel prices since May 1
The government freed diesel pricing last October, providing a level playing field to private companies like Reliance and Essar Oil.
Oil Ministry felt it did not have a clear mandate to reduce rates post the January 2013 decision of the Cabinet to raise prices by 40-50 paisa a litre every month.
'Those who feared that I would have run one hell of a campaign targeting the most powerful people in India snatched away my democratic right from me.' 'I will expose these democracy-killers.'
Tata Motors will launch a diesel-powered version of its ultra-cheap Nano by the end of March 2014, its managing director said, hoping to kick-start demand for the model after years of disappointing sales.
India is now much ahead of other large railway networks in the world in terms of electrification -- with the US at just 1 per cent, China at 72 per cent and Europe at 60 per cent.
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.
"There is no immediate plan to decontrol diesel or LPG as they have cascading effect (on general prices)," Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas R P N Singh told reporters in New Delhi.
Move likely to be rolled back atleast for state transport undertakings
Union excise duty collection dropped 18 per cent in August year-on-year at a time when the overall central tax kitty rose about 94 per cent before devolution to the states. The mop-up from Union excise duty declined to Rs 23,576 crore in August this year compared to Rs 28,816 crore in the same month a year ago. On the other hand, total tax collection rose to Rs 2.9 trillion in the month as against Rs 1.5 trillion in August 2022-23, shows the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA).
Generally, there is a price difference of around Rs 100,000 between petrol and diesel cars.
IOC said the movement of prices in the international oil market and INR-USD exchange rate shall continue to be monitored closely
After a spike, losses on sale of diesel have fallen by nearly a rupee to Rs 2.49 per litre as international oil rates have moderated.
Diesel likely to get cheaper in New Delhi
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.
The movement of prices in the international oil market and rupee-USD exchange rate shall continue to be monitored closely and developing trends of the market will be reflected in future price changes
Petrol price had been cut 10 times since August 2014.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Vin Diesel film had the best collections amongst all the movies in the running across the country.
The government has cut windfall gains tax on domestically-produced crude oil to nil while continuing the rate at zero on the export of diesel and ATF. The government has slashed the special additional excise duty (SAED) on crude oil produced by companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to nil from Rs 4,100 per tonne with effect from Tuesday, an official order dated May 15 said. This is the second time that the levy, which was introduced in July last year in the form of a cess to tax supernormal gains of oil producers and fuel exporters, has been cut to nil for domestically-produced oil.
Petrol now costs Rs 59.99 per litre as against Rs 59.03 a litre previously.
This car is touted to be Chevrolet's next big thing in India.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who released BJP's manifesto for the legislative assembly polls, said a committee would be constituted on UCC.
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.
In 2010, the govt had taken an "in-principle" decision to deregulate diesel prices, but could not implement it due to political pressure.
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.
Petrol price will be cheaper by 49 paise/litre and diesel by Rs 1.21.
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