State-run oil marketing companies such as BPCL revise petrol and diesel prices on a daily basis
Highlights
- Petrol, diesel prices hiked by 7-9 paise in four major cities on Sunday
- Petrol retailed at Rs 64.11/litre in Delhi on July 16, diesel at Rs 54.93
- Indian Oil, other PSU oil retailers adopted daily rate changes on June 16
Petrol was retailing at Rs 64.11-73.45 per litre while diesel was being sold between Rs 54.93 and Rs 58.47 a litre in four major cities on Sunday. State-run oil marketing companies Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum, which account for more than 90 per cent of refuelling stations in the country, adopted daily price revisions for petrol and diesel on June 16 this year. With an aim at better alignment of domestic rates of petrol and diesel with global oil rates, the three PSUs extended a pilot project run in five cities first to the rest of the country.
Effective 6 am Sunday, every litre of petrol was being sold at Rs 64.11 in Delhi, Rs 67.55 in Kolkata, Rs 73.45 in Mumbai and Rs 66.57 in Chennai, according to the Indian Oil website - iocl.com. Also, diesel prices were at Rs 54.93, Rs 57.67, Rs 58.47 and Rs 57.92 respectively.
Compared to the previous day, Sunday's prices were hiked by 7-8 paise per litre in case of petrol and 8-9 paise in case of diesel. Domestic petrol and diesel prices are dependent on global crude oil price and rupee-dollar exchange rate. On Friday, international crude oil prices rose 1 per cent, boosted as US crude producers added only two rigs in the latest week and on signs of increased Chinese demand, but trading was volatile as global supply remained strong. For the week, US crude rose more than 5.2 per cent while Brent rose more than 4.7 per cent.
Since the June 16 switchover from fortnightly revisions to daily revisions, petrol prices in the four major cities have come down 3-6 per cent while diesel rates fallen 1-5 per cent.
| | Petrol price in Rs per litre | Change |
| | July 16, 2017 | June 1, 2017 | In Rs per litre | In percentage per litre |
| New Delhi | 64.11 | 66.91 | -2.8 | 4.18 |
| Kolkata | 67.55 | 69.52 | -1.97 | 2.83 |
| Mumbai | 73.45 | 78.44 | -4.99 | 6.36 |
| Chennai | 66.57 | 69.93 | -3.36 | 4.8 |
| | Diesel price in Rs per litre | | |
| New Delhi | 54.93 | 55.94 | -1.01 | 1.81 |
| Kolkata | 57.67 | 58.28 | -0.61 | 1.05 |
| Mumbai | 58.47 | 61.67 | -3.2 | 5.19 |
| Chennai | 57.92 | 59.22 | -1.3 | 2.2 |
Petrol and diesel are deregulated in India, which means they are linked to market rates. Petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and aviation turbine fuel have been kept out of GST or goods and services tax, which became a reality on July 1, 2017.
The Maharashtra government had earlier decided to slash the state surcharge levied on petroleum products. "The prices of petrol will come down in the range of 66 paise to Rs 1.77 per litre depending on the local taxes of the municipal corporations and other local bodies. Similarly, the diesel prices will come down in the range of Rs 1.25 to Rs 1.66 per litre," food and civil supplies minister Girish Bapat had said earlier this week.
Today, consumers and petrol/diesel dealers can pick from a variety of digital options to get assistance on price revisions.
Some of these services for consumers are listed below.
| | SMS service | Online | Mobile app |
| Indian Oil | Send an SMS to 9224992249 in format: RSP DEALER CODE to 9224992249 | Access 'Pump Locator' tool on IOC website - iocl.com | Fuel@IOC |
| Bharat Petroleum | Send an SMS to 9223112222 in format: RSP Dealer Code | Pump Locator' on bharatpetroleum.in | SmartDrive |
| Hindustan Petroleum | Send an SMS to 9222201122 in format: HPPRICE DEALER CODE | Pump Locator' on hindustanpetroleum.com | My HPCL |
The dealer code of each petrol pump would be prominently displayed in the petrol pump premises, Indian Oil has said. Customers can also check the dealer code from the Indian Oil website.
(With agency inputs)