Petrol, diesel prices hiked by Rs 3 per litre across India

Petrol and diesel prices were increased on Friday by Rs 3 per litre after state-owned oil firms ended a four-year record hiatus in rate revision. Petrol price was hiked to Rs 97.77 per litre from Rs 94.77 in the national capital. Diesel now costs Rs 90.67 as against Rs 89.67 per litre previously, according to industry information. The increase is a 10th of the desired hike needed to account for the surge in global energy rates since the start of the West Asia conflict. State-owned oil firms had kept fuel price unchanged for 11 weeks despite a surge in input cost, but passed on part of the increase once operations became financially unsustainable, the sources said. Prices have remained on freeze since April 2022, but had a one-off reduction of Rs 2 a litre each on petrol and diesel in March 2024 just before the Lok Sabha elections.
State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) had abandoned the daily price revision in April 2022 to insulate domestic consumers from a steep price increase that was warranted because of international oil prices shooting through the roof post Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
They incurred heavy losses in the first half of the 2022-23 fiscal year, which they recouped when rates fell in subsequent months. But the war in West Asia has again sent international oil prices soaring by over 50 per cent. The basket of crude oil that India imports averaged USD 69 per barrel in February before the war in West Asia broke out. It averaged USD 113-114 per barrel in subsequent months.