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.
Acknowledging that the Union government had its own pressures in increasing petrol and diesel prices, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, whose party DMK is a key UPA ally, said on Wednesday that it would persuade the Centre to roll back the prices.
Tata Motors is looking to increase passenger vehicle prices from next month in order to make its model range compliant with stricter emission norms which kick in from April 1 next year, according to a top company official. In an interaction with PTI, Tata Motors Managing Director - Passenger Vehicle and Electric Vehicles Shailesh Chandra said the price revision would also offset the impact of commodity prices, which have remained high for the most part of the year. "The regulatory change will have its impact on the cost. Even the real impact of softening of commodity prices is only going to come from next quarter and we still have the residual impact of the commodity escalation that we have seen during the year," Chandra said.
As other members of the government have pointed out -- Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh and Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu among them -- India cannot afford to delay increasing prices, given the ballooning subsidy bill.
"I am not happy at the cut in petrol price by Rs two per litre. It is not enough. It is still a burden on the common man. There should have been a total roll back of the hike," she told media persons at the state secretariat in Kolkata
Hitting out at the government, BJP on Wednesday scored a "double century" on price rise and questioned the "silence" of Congress President Sonia Gandhi on the "burning issue".
Between April-June 2016-17, the additional excise duty mop up on these two products stood at Rs 17,692 crore.
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.
The common man was bearing the brunt of the escalating prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas, the Congress said.
IOC along with HPCL and BPCL took a hit of about Rs 4,500 crore from absorbing Re 1 a litre hike.
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.
Much before the honeymoon ended with the public, the Manmohan Singh government delivered a shock in the form of the fuel price hike -- an act of confident UPA -- to compensate the losses of 2010 Union budget.
The government on Thursday more than doubled the price of natural gas that is used to produce electricity, make fertilisers, turned into CNG and piped to household kitchens for cooking, on the back of a spike in global energy prices. The price of gas produced from old regulated fields, such as the nation's largest gas field of Bassein of ONGC, will rise to a record high of $6.10 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu) from the current $2.90 per mmBtu, according to the oil ministry's Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC). The new price, which is likely to result in a hike in CNG and piped cooking gas rates, will be for six months beginning April 1.
Petrol prices on Thursday crossed Rs 73 a litre mark, the highest level since the BJP government came to power in 2014, while diesel touched a record high of Rs 64.11 a litre.
The petroleum ministry has sought a Rs 10 per litre increase in petrol and Rs 5 a litre hike in diesel prices, along with a cut in customs and excise duties, to offset the impact of surge in crude oil prices that have touched $135 per barrel.
India's top fuel retailers IOC, BPCL and HPCL together lost around $2.25 billion (Rs 19,000 crore) in revenue for keeping petrol and diesel prices on hold during elections in five states, including Uttar Pradesh, Moody's Investors Services said on Thursday. State fuel retailers did not revise petrol and diesel rates for a record 137 days despite prices of crude oil (raw material for producing fuel) rising to $120 per barrel compared to around $82 in early November when the hiatus began. "Based on current market prices, the oil marketing companies are currently incurring a revenue loss of around $25 (over Rs 1,900) per barrel and $24 per barrel on sale of petrol and diesel, respectively," Moody's said in a report.
Investors should be selective in their stock pickings in the oil sector as concerns over subsidies and crude prices loom large.
After an hour-long meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Communist Party of India general secretary A B Bardhan told reporters that the government is all se to raise the prices of petrol and diesel within the next 2-3 days.\n\n
Hardening prices of manufactured items during the month may refrain the Reserve Bank of India from cutting rates in its policy review on February 8.
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The government on Tuesday raised excise duty on petrol by Rs 2.25 per litre and by Re 1 a litre on diesel but retail pump rates will not be increased as oil firms decided to absorb the duty change for the time being.
Cement prices are likely to go up by around Rs 8-10 per 50 kg bag with manufacturers saying that they may pass on the burden of hike in excise duty proposed in the Budget 2010-11 to customers.
The government is unlikely to raise petrol and diesel prices before the end of the current monsoon session of Parliament and may moderate the hike with a dose of excise duty cut, a top official said on Wednesday.
While there is no solace for those who own petrol cars, let us look at the cheapest diesel cars available in India to help prospective buyers.
The Union government has collected Rs 94,181 crore through levy of excise duty on petrol and diesel in the first three months of the current fiscal on the back of a record tax on fuel that yielded 88 per cent higher revenue the previous financial year, the Lok Sabha was informed on Monday. Excise duty on petrol was hiked from Rs 19.98 per litre to Rs 32.9 last year to recoup gain arising from international oil prices plunging to multi-year low as pandemic gulped demand. The same on diesel was raised to Rs 31.8 from Rs 15.83 a litre, according to a written reply by Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameswar Teli in the Lok Sabha. This led to excise collections on petrol and diesel jumping to Rs 3.35 lakh crore in 2020-21 (April 2020 to March 2021), from Rs 1.78 lakh crore a year back, he said.
The price of petrol variant of the Verna has been raised by Rs 3,500 (for the base model), while the diesel model has become dearer by Rs 10,000.
Reeling under increasing input costs, especially steel, country's biggest car maker Maruti Suzuki India has hiked prices of its products across various models between Rs 1,000 and Rs 18,000. The company has hiked the price of its latest model Swift Dzire by Rs 18,000. It had launched the sedan with an introductory price ranging Rs 4.49 lakh and Rs 6 lakh across different variants.
India's appetite for imported crude oil may wane in fiscal year (FY) 2023 from record levels in pre-pandemic 2019-20 fiscal as higher oil prices, a spillover from the conflict in Ukraine, and increasing use of biofuels affect domestic demand for petroleum products. Brent crude surged to a nine-year high, shy of a July 2008 record $147.50 a barrel, before declining to around $100 a barrel - but the volatility in commodity rates will slow global economic growth and use of fuels. Demand for all oil products may grow at only 2-3 per cent in FY23, slower than the current fiscal and nearly half the 5.5 per cent growth estimated by the petroleum ministry, according to industry officials.
Petrol and diesel will cost Rs 2 a litre less from Wednesday after the first excise duty cut by the Modi government comes into effect.
The Congresshas announced a three-phased campaign, "Mehngai-mukt Bharat Abhiyaan".
Car maker Volkswagen India on Monday said it will hike the prices of the diesel variant of its mid-sized sedan Vento by 2.2 per cent from July 1 to offset higher input costs.
Here is a list of items set to become cheaper and costlier.
With Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum projected to lose Rs 200,000 crore (Rs 2,000 billion) in revenues on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below import cost, industry sources said a hike in the range of Rs 2 to 5 per litre appears on the cards.
In August, passenger car sales dropped 18 per cent to 118,142 units, the sharpest decline in nearly 10 months, due to weak consumer sentiment and a month's lockout at Maruti Suzuki. Sales of diesel-driven utility vehicles grew 70 per #162 this is likely to be affected by the price rise.
State-owned fuel retailers are losing close to Rs 3 per litre on selling diesel while the profit on petrol has trimmed due to recent firming up in international oil prices, industry officials said detailing reasons for continuing to hold retail prices. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), who control roughly 90 per cent of India's fuel market, 'voluntarily' have not changed petrol, diesel and cooking gas (LPG) prices for almost two years now, resulting in losses when input cost was higher and profits when raw material prices were lower.
CK Birla group company Hindustan Motors on Monday said it has increased the prices of premium sedan Lancer marginally by upto one per cent.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has accused the BJP of rigging the Maharashtra assembly elections and called for a return to ballot paper voting. He also criticized the Modi government for selling off public assets, undermining democratic institutions, and promoting communal polarization. Kharge's remarks come as the Congress prepares for its AICC session in Ahmedabad, where it will present its political and economic views.
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