NEW DELHI: The three state-owned oil marketing companies – Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation — started selling petrol and diesel in sync with global crude oil rates from Friday. These OMCs have around 90 per cent share of the Indian fuel market.
India now joins countries such as the US and Australia where diesel and petrol prices move in tandem with the price of crude oil. The move comes at a time when the crude oil prices are subdued and below $50 per barrel. The price of crude oil in the Indian energy basket was $46.48 per barrel on Wednesday.
Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan said in a tweet, “Proud to share that India is the first country to switch to dynamic fuel pricing on such a scale in one go.”
IOC said it has successfully rolled out daily price revision mechanism for the two main transportation fuels across its network of 26,000-plus pumps.
“The initiative also looks at better daily inventory management by both OMCs and the dealers and prevent surges or declines in purchasing pattern at the end of the fortnight depending upon market perception of upcoming increase or decrease in prices,” it said.
Effective Friday morning, petrol per litre cost Rs 65.48 in Delhi, Rs 68.03 in Kolkata, Rs 76.70 in Mumbai and Rs 68.02 in Chennai for the day. Similarly, the new diesel prices were Rs 54.49 in Delhi, Rs 56.65 in Kolkata, Rs 59.90 in Mumbai and Rs 57.41 in Chennai.