Petrol prices set for a Rs 4 slash on July 1

The oil marketing companies are likely to slash the petrol prices by up to Rs 4 a litre from July 1. But senior officials in the oil companies said the price cut would come only if the global petrol prices and the rupee-dollar exchange rates hold for the rest of this month. Anupama Airy reports. The oil story

The oil marketing companies are likely to slash the petrol prices by up to Rs 4 a litre from July 1.

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The trigger: The steep fall in global prices of crude oil as well as petrol on which the companies base the domestic prices every fortnight. The price cut will come as a big respite for the consumer after the recent increase of Rs. 7.54 a litre on May 23 — the highest so far.

But senior officials in the oil companies said the price cut would come only if the global petrol prices and the rupee-dollar exchange rates hold for the rest of this month.

The officials said the price cut could have been higher had the rupee not gone through a freefall against the dollar in recent times in the currency market.

With every one-dollar decline in global prices, the domestic price declines by around Rs. 0.34 a litre, while every one-rupee fall against the dollar leads to a price rise of 75-to-80 paise a litre.

The average global petrol price has come down to $99 a barrel from $115 at the time of the last price cut of Rs 2.02 on June 2.