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.
India's electric vehicle (EV) industry hit a new milestone in 2024, with sales surging 26.5 per cent year-on-year to 1.94 million units as of December 29, according to Vahan data from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).
'Unless we consistently show up with the right cars, at the right time, priced fairly, we risk becoming irrelevant very quickly.'
The Union government will gain close to Rs 1.6 lakh crore in additional revenues this fiscal from a record hike in excise duty on petrol and diesel that has pushed the total incidence of taxation on auto fuels to 70 per cent of the price. Late on Tuesday evening, the government hiked excise duty on petrol by Rs 10 per litre and that on diesel by Rs 13 a litre to mop up gains arising from international oil prices falling to a two-decade low.
Close on the heels of a 70 paise per litre hike in petrol prices, the Oil Ministry is pushing for an increase in diesel and domestic cooking gas LPG prices, even though it is unsure of political support for the unpopular move with the ruling UPA alliance.
The GoM meet on fuel price hike remained inconclusive. The ministers evaluated various options of fuel hike but failed to arrive on a decision.
Still battling the fallout of last month's steep Rs 7.54 a litre hike in petrol price, the government on Friday said it is not considering raising rates of diesel, domestic gas (LPG) and kerosene for the moment.
Jet fuel (ATF) price was on Monday hiked by a steep 56.5 per cent and that of non-subsidised cooking gas LPG by Rs 11.5 per cylinder on the back of firming up of international oil rates, but petrol and diesel prices continued to remain on freeze for a record 78th day. Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price was hiked by Rs 12,126.75 per kilolitre (kl), or 56.5 per cent, to Rs 33,575.37 per kl in the national capital, according to a price notification by State-owned oil marketing companies.
Against the backdrop of the Trinamool Congress' threat to pull out of United Progressive Alliance over the petrol price rise, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday backed the government on the issue.
Indian refiners are likely to import 2-2.2 million barrels per day of Russian crude oil in June - the highest in the last two years and more than the total volumes bought from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, preliminary data by global trade analytics firm Kpler showed.
Amid news of a fuel shortage in some parts of the country and wider unrest over fuel issues in the neighbourhood, an analysis of the data from international tracker globalpetrolprices.com shows that the per litre price of petrol is higher in India than in seven out of its nine neighbours.
IOC along with HPCL and BPCL took a hit of about Rs 4,500 crore from absorbing Re 1 a litre hike.
The government was likely to take a decision on a hike in petrol and diesel prices in mid-July, a government official said on Monday. The review has been necessitated by the increase in global and domestic crude oil prices.
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.
India, the world's third largest oil consuming and importing nation, bought crude oil worth 49 billion euros from Russia in the third year of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, a global think tank said. India, which has traditionally sourced its oil from the Middle East, began importing a large volume of oil from Russia soon after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
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.
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.
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.
