Petrol, diesel price up by 80 p each; 3rd hike in a week

In the last one week, the fuel retailers have increased cumulatively Rs 2.40 in the country.
Image for representational purpose only. (File Photo)
Image for representational purpose only. (File Photo)

NEW DELHI: Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) on Friday again hiked prices of petrol and diesel by 80 paisa each for the third time in a week. Following the hike on Friday, petrol will now cost Rs 97.81 and diesel will be available at Rs 89.07 per litre in the national capital region (NCR).

In the last one week, the fuel retailers have increased cumulatively Rs 2.40 in the country. The price of petrol and diesel was on halt between 4th November 2021 and 21st March 2022 in the country despite high crude prices in the International market.

During this period, the Brent Crude Future, the benchmark of global crude price, even touched the highest $139 per barrel on 7 March 2022. The prices were then revised by the fuel retailers on both diesel and petrol by 80 paisa per litre on 21 March and by the same amount again on 22 March.

Moody’s Investors Service in its study highlighted that Oil Marketing Companies have lost around $2.25 billion in revenues from 5th November to 21st March. This is the period when these retailers stopped revising fuel prices despite high crude prices in the international market.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) are incurring around $70 million in daily losses on petrol and diesel sales.
Thus, experts believe that the hike on transport fuel is on expected lines and, in fact, more hikes are expected.

“Retail fuel prices of petrol and diesel have been kept unchanged since November 2021, whereas global crude oil prices rose by close to $30 per barrel during this period. The pass-through of rising crude oil prices to domestic fuel prices is, therefore, inevitable, and further hikes can also be expected,” said Dipti Deshpande, Principal Economist, CRISIL.

Nehru’s 1950s speech
Sitharaman read Nehru’s speech, where he blamed the Korean War for inflation in India. She argued if Nehru could blame war for rising prices, when India was not as well connected with the world, why would the Russia-Ukraine war not impact prices today

Rs 2.40
After keeping prices of petrol and diesel on hold for 4 months, fuel retailers have increased cumulatively Rs 2.40 in India in the past one week

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