BHUBANESWAR: The daily revision of fuel prices, which was implemented across the country on Friday, evoked mixed reactions from the public and petrol pump retailers in the City.
A majority of citizens said daily revision of petrol and diesel prices is a welcome move as it would eliminate panic purchase whenever the fuel prices are hiked.
As per the earlier practice, petrol prices were increased or slashed twice a month in bulk on the basis of international crude oil prices. There was a mad rush at fuel stations on the day of announcement of a hike from midnight. The daily revision of prices will make the system transparent, Sumit Nanda, a banker, said.
On the other hand, a group of petrol pump owners said the daily change in prices will lead to problem in stock clearance. Whenever there is a balance stock, they would have to sell it in the new price which may be less than the price of the fuel purchased on the previous day. While the price difference would be balanced with a hike, they would now be calculative in purchasing stock on Saturdays.
Since the depots remain closed on Sundays, the retailers purchase double the quantity of their daily consumption so that they would not run out of stock. ‘’Now, if the prices are slashed on Monday, we will sustain loss for the additional quantity left with us,’’ said Gandharba Jena, supervisor of a newly opened pump at Soubhagya Nagar.
For customers who purchase fuel on credit, the retailers will have to update and send inventories on a daily basis. Earlier, they used to send credit notes monthly for the bulk purchasers. ‘’Now, the process would be cumbersome as we will have to send them bills on a daily basis,’’ said Rajendra Patnaik, manager of a petrol pump at Raj Bhavan square.
On the day, the prices of petrol and diesel at Bharat Petroleum outlets in the City were `65.52 and `59.32 per litre respectively. There was a cut in the prices as compared to Thursday when the price of petrol was `67.08 and diesel `60.95 per litre. The petrol pump managers received the new prices over SMS and made the necessary changes at 6 am.
Meanwhile, the price revision continues to be an issue for outlets which are using a manual system as the employees have to change the price daily for each machine individually early in the morning before the pumps open.