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.
As global tensions put pressure on the cost of crude oil, sending petrol prices above 1 a litre across the UK, This is Money investment writer Philip Scott investigates how investors can profit from rising oil prices.
A week after the steep hike in petrol prices by Rs 5 a litre, the government on Monday said a ministerial panel is likely to meet in the next few days to take a decision on raising diesel, LPG and kerosene rates.
Rupee depreciating to an all-time low of Rs 57.30 to a US dollar has wiped away most of gains arising from oil dropping below $90 a barrel for the first time since December 2010.
While moong and pork became dearer by 5 per cent each, urad price shot up by 4 per cent, vegetables by 2.63 per cent and coffee by 2 per cent during the week.
Days after saying that there is no need for subsidies to achieve greater penetration of electric vehicles (EVs), Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Monday clarified that the view is his own, but any official call on EV subsidies is not one that he can take.
For the third time in two months, state-owned oil firms on Thursday slashed prices of petrol and diesel by over a rupee, in step with the global softening of crude prices.
Sources said both Mukherjee and Deora were in favour of Rs 2-3 a litre hike in petrol and diesel prices and Rs 25 per cylinder increase in LPG rates.
It is time he stood up and assured the middle class that they can count on him as one of their own, says Dr Sudhir Bisht.
With the deregulation of petrol prices, the future looks grim for the Indian consumers.
The Congress core group is meeting later in the evening where the implementation of Kirit Parikh Committee report on fuel pricing reforms may be discussed.
A one rupee per litre cut in taxes would result in revenues being hit by Rs 30,000 crore on an annualised basis.
Diesel price was on Monday hiked by 50 paise per litre, excluding VAT, with effect from midnight tonight.
Signs of a strong pickup in hiring by companies are adding to the rosier outlook for Indian households.
In most parts of the landlocked northeastern state, items such as rice, potato, onion and egg besides LPG cylinders and petrol are selling at rates much above the ones fixed by the government.
Merc says it has completed offering petrol option along with diesel variants for all the models that it sells in India
Here is a list of items set to become cheaper and costlier.
Jet fuel prices on Wednesday were hiked by over 18 per cent -- the steepest ever increase -- to all-time high levels after international oil price surged to a multi-year high.
Finance Minister Piyush Goyal: 'I hope the Congress governments and other states like West Bengal, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Telangana will support our effort to bring petrol and diesel into the GST regime.'
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.
After natural gas prices, the government looks set to bite the bullet on auto fuel prices, with a panel of ministers scheduled to meet on June 7 to decide on freeing petrol and diesel prices.
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.
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.
Notwithstanding the demand of the Left parties, Petroleum Minister Mani Shanker Iyar on Friday asserted that there would be "no rollback" of the hike in petro products prices.
The announcements of price revision shall result in net incremental revenues to the tune of (Rs 14,700 crore) Rs 147 billion in FY05.
We no longer have the ambition to rival China save through words. We are happy to be fighting ourselves and digging up disputes from centuries ago as a substitute for real development, argues Aakar Patel.
The Freedom 125 has sold 8,310 units in October to date. This is its highest since it was launched in July and may touch close to 9,000 by the end of the month.
Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday ruled out upside risks to the 5.3 per cent inflation forecast for the current fiscal, saying the recent cut in excise duty on diesel and petrol as well as better management of supply-side issues on the food front have contained inflationary expectations. These measures are significantly positive for inflation management, he said. After months of calls for reducing taxes on fuels, the government, last week, cut the excise duty on diesel and petrol by Rs 10 and Rs 5 per litre, respectively.
India's fuel sales fell in the first half of April as a record rise in prices in a short 16-day period dented demand, preliminary industry data showed on Saturday. Petrol sales fell almost 10 per cent in the first half of April when compared with the same period in the preceding month, while diesel demand slid 15.6 per cent. Even cooking gas LPG, which had consistently shown growth even during the pandemic period, saw a 1.7 per cent month-on-month fall in consumption during April 1-15.
Amid protests from political parties over the hike in petrol prices, the government on Monday said the product was deregulated and the revision in the fuel rate was done by the oil marketing companies.
For now, the upside appears to offset damage done to exports by weaker global demand.
Top government officials in New Delhi have started discussions with stakeholders ranging from shipping and container companies to export promotion councils to understand the impact of the Iran-Israel tensions and plan ahead. Inter-ministerial talks are also being lined up amid the crisis situation in West Asia, sources confirmed. While the crude flows are not directly under any threat, elevated oil prices remain a concern, according to officials.
In the next quarter, the country will also start gearing up for various Assembly elections could put the government as well as the OMCs under pressure
The GST Council on Saturday postponed a decision on cutting tax rate on life and health insurance premiums, officials said. The 55th meeting of the GST Council, chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and comprising state counterparts, decided that some more technicalities needed to be ironed out and tasked the GoM for further deliberations.
Jet fuel (ATF) price on Saturday was slashed by 4.5 per cent and that of commercial LPG used in hotels and restaurants by Rs 25.5 per 19-kg cylinder. The price of a 19-kg commercial LPG cylinder was cut to Rs 1,859.50 in the national capital from Rs 1,885, according to a price notification from state-owned fuel retailers. This is the sixth reduction in price of commercial LPG since June, in step with softening international energy prices.
Petroleum Minister Ram Naik on Wednesday hinted at reduction in prices of petrol and diesel in step with the fall in international oil prices, at the next fortnightly review due on April 15.
Sugar prices are hovering near six-year highs, leaving a bad taste in Indian consumers' palates but sweetening the portfolios of investors in related stocks at Dalal Street. Shares of sugar manufacturers such as Piccadily Agro, DCM Shriram, Magadh Sugar, and Bajaj Hindustan have rallied up to a whopping 200 per cent so far in the financial year 2024 (FY24) as deficient monsoon rains in major sugarcane producer states like Maharashtra and Karnataka are expected to lead to a shortfall in sugar output ahead. In comparison, the BSE Sensex has modestly gained 11 per cent during this period.
'We will have multiple engine options -- electric vehicle and internal combustion engine in diesel and petrol.'
Soaring fuel prices give birth to a jugaad system in Bihar's border towns abutting Nepal with residents smuggling in India-supplied cheaper petrol and diesel from the mountain kingdom.
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