NEW DELHI: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) chairman Sanjiv Singh on Friday said that there is likely to be a marginal increase in fuel prices after April 1, with India slated to adopt new emissions standards. According to Singh, Indian Oil is all set to make the shift to BS-VI fuel, having spent over Rs 17,000 crore to upgrade its refineries to produce low-sulphur diesel and petrol.
“There will definitely be a marginal increase in retail prices of the fuels from April 1 when the whole country will be run on new fuels, which will have sulphur content of only 10 parts per million (ppm) as against the present 50 ppm,” said Singh, while declining to disclose any specific numbers. However, he also said that the companies will not burden consumers with a steep hike.
“We are not looking at this investment from a purely ‘return on investment’ basis, but this is a national mandate and we have done it. Having said that, all those countries that moved to low emission fuels are charging higher prices; and from April 1, our prices will also be benchmarked against Euro VI prices as against the present practice of cost-plus model,” Singh said.
While earlier reports had pegged the possible price increase at around 70-120 paise per litre, Singh told reporters that arriving at such a number was a difficult task due to operational complexities and associated costs at different refineries. Indian Oil had already switched to BS-VI fuel production earlier this month with most outlets ready, except for a few in remote places where intake is low.