Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by Rs 3 per litre on Friday, the Centre announced amid the spike in global energy prices caused due to the Iran war. This comes just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to restrict petrol consumption as he called to adopt austerity measure.
The price rise also comes as a solace for the state-run Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), which had been bearing the brunt of the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz. The domestic retail prices had been stagnant since 2022, except when the Centre slashed the prices by Rs 2 a litre each on petrol and diesel in March 2024, just before the Lok Sabha elections.
However, the international crude prices kept rising as global oil prices spiked at more than $120 per barrel, before coming back to around $100 to $105 a barrel following the severe disruption of the Strait of Hormuz.
However, the current hike too is just 10 per cent of the desired hike needed to offset the loss for the OMCs.
Petrol in Delhi will now cost Rs 97.77 a litre, while diesel will be priced at Rs 99.67.
These are the current retail selling prices of petrol and diesel in four Metro cities. Rates vary across states due to differences in value-added tax:
Petrol
Delhi - 97.77 (+3.00)
Kolkata 108.74 (+3.29)
Mumbai 106.68 (+3.14)
Chennai 103.67 (+2.83)
Diesel prices
Delhi 90.67 (+3.00)
Kolkata 95.13 (+3.11)
Mumbai 93.14 (+3.11)
Chennai 95.25 (+2.86).
State-run Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp, which together control more than 90% of the country's over 103,000 fuel stations. As per statistics, the OMCs were losing Rs 14 per litre on petrol, Rs 42 a litre on diesel and Rs 674 a litre on cooking gas LPG before Friday's decision.This amounted to Rs 1,000 crore a day, according to the Centre which pegged the losses at about Rs 1 lakh crore.