Petrol prices raised by 70 paise per litre
New Delhi: State owned oil companies will raise petrol prices by at least 70 paise per litre effective midnight on Monday. The hike comes after two successive reductions in the price of the fuel last month, the last one being a Rs. 2.46 cut, which followed a Rs. 2.02 per litre cut on June 3.
Monday’s increase was “necessitated due to increasing international oil prices and movement in INR-dollar exchange rate,” Indian Oil Corp, the nation’s largest fuel retailer, said in a statement.
Average price of Indian basket of crude is $ 101.28 per barrel while international petrol price is $111.59 a barrel. The Rupee-dollar exchange rate is around Rs. 55.36 to a dollar.
“At these levels, the oil companies are incurring losses of about Rs. 1.41 per litre on petrol sales in the domestic market. However, as the price movement is quite volatile, it has been decided that an increase of Rs. 0.70 per litre ..,” it said.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who has opposed every single fuel price hike in the recent past, is reportedly “deeply unhappy” about this hike. Her party has asked for a roll back and will also reportedly talk to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about it.
