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Prices of petrol, diesel raised again

ByHTC and Agencies, New Delhi
Mar 27, 2022 06:19 AM IST

Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 80 paise a litre each on Saturday, the fourth increase in five days as oil firms passed on to consumers the spike in cost of raw material.

Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 80 paise a litre each on Saturday, the fourth increase in five days as oil firms passed on to consumers the spike in cost of raw material.

Motorcyclists wait in queues to get their vehicles filled with fuel, at a petrol pump in Navi Mumbai. (PTI file)

Petrol in Delhi will now cost 98.61 per litre as against 97.81 previously while diesel rates have gone up from 89.07 per litre to 89.87, according to a price notification of state fuel retailers.

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All the four increases since the ending of a four-and-half-month long hiatus in rate revision on March 22, have been of 80 paise a litre. These increase increases are the steepest single-day rise since the daily price revision was started in June 2017. In four increases, petrol and diesel prices have gone up by 3.20 a litre.

Prices had been on a freeze since November 4 ahead of the assembly elections in states like Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Punjab -- a period during which the cost of raw material (crude oil) soared by about $30 per barrel.

The rate revision was expected soon after assembly elections ended on March 10 but it was put off.

Oil companies, who did not revise petrol and diesel rates for a record 137 days despite prices of crude oil (raw material for producing fuel) rising to $117 per barrel compared to around $82 in early November, are now passing on to consumers the required increase in stages.

Moody’s Investors Services on Thursday stated that state-owned fuel retailers Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) together lost around $2.25 billion ( 19,000 crore) in revenue for keeping petrol and diesel prices on hold during the election period. Oil companies “will need to raise diesel prices by 13.1-24.9 per litre and 10.6-22.3 a litre on gasoline (petrol) at an underlying crude price of $100-120 per barrel,” according to Kotak Institutional Equities.

The Congress on Saturday announced a three-phase campaign against price rise, “Mehngai-mukt Bharat Abhiyaan”, as part of which party workers will ring bells, garland LPG cylinders and beat drums besides organising rallies and marches across the country from March 31 to April 7.

“The Narendra Modi government has cheated, betrayed and deceived the citizens of India. After keeping the prices of petrol, diesel, gas cylinders, PNG and CNG stable for 137 days to garner people’s votes in the elections, the budget of every family has gone haywire in the past one week,” Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.

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