The OMCs hiked petrol and diesel prices by Rs 3 per litre on Friday, the first increase in over four years, as they continue to grapple with financial strain amid the West Asia crisis.
The Rs 3-per-litre hike in petrol and diesel prices has provided some relief to public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs), reducing their combined daily losses on sales of the two automobile fuels and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by a fourth, or about Rs 250 crore, a senior Petroleum Ministry official said Monday.
The three OMCs—Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, and Hindustan Petroleum—are currently incurring losses of about Rs 750 crore a day by selling petrol, diesel, and LPG below market rates, according to Petroleum Ministry Joint Secretary Sujata Sharma. She did not comment on whether more fuel price hikes are in the pipeline in the coming days. Sharma said that the loss figures don’t include the OMCs’ under-recovery on jet fuel sales for domestic flights.
The OMCs hiked petrol and diesel prices by Rs 3 per litre on Friday, the first increase in over four years, as they continue to grapple with financial strain amid the West Asia crisis. Petrol is now priced at Rs 97.77 per litre, and diesel at Rs 90.67 in Delhi. Fuel prices vary across states due to differences in state-level taxes. Price of LPG supplied to households was not hiked; it was last hiked in early March.
According to industry sources and analysts, the quantum of this hike will only partially ease the pressure, as the gap between the retail fuel prices and the market price is much wider. More calibrated and staggered price hikes could be on the cards.
