Virtually securing the consent of Left parties, the government is likely to decide next week on a price hike of Rs 4 per litre for petrol and Rs 3 a litre for diesel while sparing cooking gas and kerosene.
Petrol prices may be raised by about Rs 2 per litre and diesel rates cut by Rs 0.30 a litre if a proposal to free auto fuel prices from state control is approved by the incoming cabinet.
The government is likely to hike prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 4 and Rs 2 per litre, respectively, as global crude oil prices continued to surge.
The government is mulling a marginal hike in petrol and diesel price along with an excise duty cut on auto fuels to cut the Rs 7,840 crore (Rs 78.40 billion) loss public sector oil firms are incurring every month on selling fuel below cost.
State-owned oil companies on Tuesday slashed jet fuel prices by over 3 per cent as an appreciating rupee made imports cheaper.
The reduction in auto fuel prices today was the fifth cut in two months on back of softening global oil prices.
Tata Steel was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack, sliding 8.59 per cent, followed by Tata Motors, Larsen & Toubro, Adani Ports, IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Sun Pharmaceutical, HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and NTPC, were the major laggards. On the other hand, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, Nestle India, ICICI Bank, ITC, Asian Paints and Axis Bank were among the gainers.
Upstream oil firms bear one-third of the revenue that retailers lose on selling diesel, domestic LPG and Kerosene at government-controlled rates.
The sector may be overcrowded with a fair number of large players and the entry of the Adani Group through its two key acquisitions, followed by the takeover of majority stake in Sanghi Industries via Ambuja Cements. Since every major player is in expansion mode, there could be a capacity surplus and hence, price wars.
Jet Airways on followed its smaller rival SpiceJet and hiked fares by a steep 25 per cent to mitigate the impact of the sharp fall in the rupee value and a near 15 per cent spike in oil prices of late.
Watch all the action from both House of the Parliament.
Indian Airlines on Tuesday announced a hike of Rs 200 on air fare with immediate effect on all international sectors and domestic routes leading to international destination in view of continuing trend of increase in fuel prices.
Apart from around 100 MPs of the Congress, leaders of several opposition parties including Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena, Communist Party of India-Marxist, Communist Party of India, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Samajwadi Party attended the meeting.
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.
Ruling out any immediate hike in the air fares despite 'worrying scenario' of rising fuel costs, Indian Airlines on Monday said it may make net profits this fiscal if the buoyancy in the air travel continues.
The price of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) may be hiked by up to Rs 2 per kg in the next few days as rupee devaluation has pushed up input cost.
"The company is losing Rs 238 crore (Rs 2.38 billion) a day on retail fuel sales," Gyan Chand Daga, director ( marketing), IOC, said in Mumbai today. Oil marketing companies collectively lost around Rs 77,000-78,000 crore (Rs 770-780 billion) during last year, according to estimates. Retail prices of diesel and petrol were hiked in February for the first time since June 2006 to lower the burden of record crude oil costs on state oil refiners.
Bharatiya Janata Party spokesman Shahnawaz Hussain on Saturday said the country is not being run by a government, but a private limited company whose basic job is to protect the interests of oil companies and not the common people. He was addressing a news conference at the party headquarters in New Delhi on Saturday. He demanded that the union government must immediately rollback the fuel price hike.
Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries Limited, which closed down fuel pumps in UP last month due to mounting losses, has denied plans of converting the defunct outlets into malls. The company was forced to shut the outlets as the petrol and diesel sold there were costlier by nearly Rs 10 and Rs 6, respectively, vis-a-vis public sector retailers.
An unusual Congress protest against rising LPG prices.
Petrol price on Friday scaled to Rs 102 per litre in some parts of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh after rates were raised for the fourth straight day after ending more than two-week-long hiatus during assembly elections in states like West Bengal. On Friday, petrol price was hiked by a steep 29 paise per litre and diesel by 31 paise a litre, according to a price notification by state-owned fuel retailers. This took the price of petrol in Delhi to Rs 91.27 per litre and that of diesel to Rs 81.73.
Petrol price on Friday crossed the Rs 100- per-litre mark in Chennai as well as in some places in Punjab and Kerala after fuel prices were hiked yet again. Petrol is priced at over Rs 99 a litre in Delhi and Kolkata -- the only metro cities which haven't seen the Rs 100 mark yet. Petrol price was hiked by 35 paise per litre on Friday but there was no change in diesel rates, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.
IndiGo share price today: IndiGo share price fell as much as 4.8 per cent to a low of Rs 4,275 per share on the BSE in Monday's intraday trade as investors booked profit in the stock post a its April-June quarter (Q1) results for financial year 2024-25 (FY25). The stock ended 1.36 per cent lower at Rs 4,430 as against a 23-points gain in the benchmark BSE Sensex. The selling also got exacerbated as the management commentary, post Q1FY25 results, highlighted that inflationary pressure could likely dent July-September (Q2FY25) performance.
Election results on Friday will determine the strength of the ruling coalition party Congress which will also determine market direction.
The two-wheeler sector has been underperforming its peers on the volumes front for over five quarters now. Even in the March quarter, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp posted a 17-24 per cent YoY decline in volumes, the sharpest in the listed auto universe. The ongoing impact of frequent price hikes, all-time high fuel prices, and muted rural sentiment has led to the lacklustre showing by two-wheeler makers. What has aggravated the situation for two-wheeler companies, which get almost all their sales from the internal combustion engine or ICE-based units, is the traction for electric two-wheelers (EV).
The nationwide protests on Wednesday against fuel price hike and Foreign Direct Investment in retail brough life to a standstill in major cities. The strike call has been given by both the National Democratic Alliance and the Third front parties. Here's what the situation was like in major cities across the country.
The Bal Thackeray-led Shiv Sena today took to the streets to protest the fuel price hike and FDI in retail sector by the Centre and asked the Trinamool Congress and the Nationalist Congress party to withdraw support to the United Progressive Alliance government.
Since international oil prices have fallen, the government's subsidy payout will fall by almost Rs 50 per cylinder to Rs 240.
As part of country-wide fill-the-jail campaign against fuel price hike, a number of BJP leaders and workers on Friday courted arrest in Punjab and Haryana.
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.
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.
In January, India allowed fuel retailers to raise the price of subsidised diesel every month and asked bulk buyers to pay market rates.
Especially after the recent hike in petrol prices, car makers are trying to come up with frugal options that can make up for the spiralling fuel prices.
State-owned oil firms may hike petrol price by about Rs 0.50 per litre from June 16 as last month's steep increase in rates is not enough to cover the cost of raw material (crude oil).
According to reports, the Congress Core Group meet that lasted for almost two hours at the Prime Minister's 7, RCR residence saw the top party leaders deliberating over the political situation arising out of the Trinamool Congress's decision to withdraw support to UPA government.
India Inc on Friday said major announcements made by government, including operationalisation of 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail, are huge "mood lifters", besides dispelling the impression of any policy paralysis in the government.
The government on Thursday allowed state-run oil majors to fix diesel prices on their own in order to reduce an expanding subsidy bill and budget deficit. Oil companies announced a dual price mechanism while hiking the rates.
The Opposition is likely to raise the issues of fuel price hike, the Bhopal gas tragedy case, unrest in Kashmir and talks with Pakistan. It is also likely to attack the government over a series of train accidents in recent months, including the one today in West Bengal.
Here is a low down on the most searched hatchbacks online across the nation in February.
The excise duty cut will translate into a reduction of Rs 9.5 a litre on petrol and Rs 7 a litre in diesel after taking into account its impact on other levies.
