Now, petrol and diesel rates are aligned with global crude oil and forex rates on a daily basis
Highlights
- Petrol, diesel prices hiked by up to 12 paise per litre in 4 major cities
- On June 3, customers paid Rs. 63.13 for a litre of petrol in Delhi
- Daily price revisions of petrol and diesel started on June 16
Petrol and diesel prices were hiked in the four major cities by up to 12 paise a litre today. After Monday's revision, a litre of petrol was being sold at Rs 63.13, Rs 66.18, Rs 74.35 and Rs 65.51 in New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai, while diesel was retailing at Rs 53.47, Rs 55.77, Rs 58.79 and Rs 56.29 respectively, according to Indian Oil Corporation's website. State-run oil marketing companies - with IOC being the largest - switched to daily price revisions on June 16. Under the daily revision system, in a shift from fortnightly revisions earlier, prices are aligned with global crude oil and foreign exchange rates on a daily basis.
Before July 3, the petrol and diesel rates had started the month on a declining note. International oil prices edged up on Monday lifted by the first fall in US drilling activity in months. The two global oil benchmarks - Brent crude and US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) were quoting around $48.90 and $46.21 per barrel respectively, after last week's gains. However, price gains were capped by reports of rising OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) output last month even as the group has pledged to cut supply.
Petrol prices in some other parts of the country included Rs 64.28 per litre in Bangalore, Rs 62.45 in Bhubhaneswar, Rs 65.82 in Jaipur, Rs 63.30 in Chandigarh, Rs 62.72 in Ambala, Rs 65.87 in Guwahati, Rs 62.63 in Shillong, Rs 65.16 in Jammu, Rs 64.04 in Shimla, Rs 67.98 in Jalandhar, Rs 65.95 in Ranchi and Rs 61.59 in Silvassa. On July 3, the rates of diesel in these cities were at Rs 54.38, Rs 57.67, Rs 57.34, Rs 54.24, Rs 53.35, Rs 56.27, Rs 53.25, Rs 54.64, Rs 53.83, Rs 53.68, Rs 56.73 and Rs 54.26 per litre respectively.
On June 16, the three PSU oil retailers - Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) - gave up a 15-year old practice of revising rates on 1st and 16th of every month. Instead, they adopted a dynamic daily price revision to instantaneously reflect changes in cost. From that day, petrol and diesel rates have been revised in effect from 6:00 am every.
The three state-run OMCs communicate the daily prices of petrol and diesel on multiple digital platforms besides displaying them on fuel stations.
Customers buying petrol and diesel for their vehicles can verify the prices in a number of ways.
INDIAN OIL
SMS service
India's largest fuel retailer has announced an SMS service for consumers to check prices using their mobile phones. To avail this service, customers need to send an SMS to 9224992249 in the following format:
RSP DEALER CODE to 9224992249
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 Indian Oil website.
Online
Indian Oil has also set up a tool on its website to do this. For this, consumers can access the 'Pump Locator' facility available on its website - iocl.com.
Mobile app
Consumers can also get daily petrol and diesel prices using Indian Oil's mobile app, called Fuel@IOC. Besides fuel station locator and price check, the app also offers services such as e bills - to track fuel purchases, loyalty transactions and grievance tracker.
BPCL
SMS
Consumers using Bharat Petroleum or BPCL dealer outlets can get prices through SMS. For this, they need to send an SMS in the following format to 9223112222:
RSP Dealer Code to 9223112222
Mobile app
Bharat Petroleum's mobile app in this regard is called "SmartDrive". "Due to the increased use of mobile applications in all businesses, it becomes necessary that BPCL joins the race of developing range of mobile applications that will deliver value to its customers, in reaching out to its petrol pumps and availing the unique services offered by the company," BPCL said on the app's description page.
Helpline
Bharat Petroleum has introduced a customer care helpline. BPCL Customer Care SmartLine 1800 22 4344 is "a single window system to listen to queries, suggestions, feedback and compliments related to any of our products and offerings", BPCL said.
HINDUSTAN PETROLEUM
SMS service
Consumers purchasing petrol or diesel from Hindustan Petroleum branded fuel stations can check prices by sending an SMS to 9222201122 in the following format:
HPPRICE DEALER CODE to 9222201122
Mobile app
HPCL's app is called "My HPCL". This app by Hindustan Petroleum, besides price check and dealer locator tools, offers services such as mileage calculator, oil change/PUC/Insurance/service reminders and tyre pressure chart.
Websites
Similar to Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum also have the 'Pump Locator' facility on their websites - bharatpetroleum.in and hindustanpetroleum.com respectively. All apps are available on both Google Play and Apple Store - for Android and iPhone users.
Petrol and diesel prices were de-regulated, or freed from government control, from April 1, 2002 and the fortnightly revision in rates kicked in. The practice of revision in rate on 1st and 16th of every month was based on average international oil price and foreign exchange rate in the preceding fortnight. The deregulation derailed a bit when international oil prices started to climb after 2004. Fortnightly revision continued but the revision was not completely in sync with the required price increase. Petrol price was finally freed in June 2010 and diesel in October 2014.
(With inputs from PTI)