Petrol and diesel saw another price revision on Saturday, with an increase of 80 paise per litre each, PTI reported. This is the fourth such hike in a span of five days.
Petrol in Delhi has been increased from Rs 97.81 per litre to Rs 98.61. Diesel rates in the national Capital have also surged from Rs 89.07 per litre to Rs 89.87.
In Mumbai, India’s financial capital, petrol will now cost Rs 113.35 per litre and diesel at Rs 97.55, CNBC TV reported. Earlier, it was Rs 112.51 per litre and Rs 96.70 per litre, respectively.
In a price notification, oil firms have cited the spike in cost of raw material as reason for this.
Ahead of the Assembly polls, fuel rates had been on a freeze since November 4. This is also the period in which the cost of crude oil (raw material) surged by nearly $30 per barrel. Oil firms had not revised fuel prices for 137 days despite this surge in early November, PTI reported.
On Thursday, Moody’s Investors Services mentioned that state-owned fuel retailers – Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd – incurred losses of around $2.25 billion (Rs 19,000 crore) for preventing price hikes of petrol and diesel during elections.
Today’s revision in rates takes the total hike in the last five days to Rs 3.2 per litre, PTI reported. These increases are the steepest single-day rise since June 2017, when the daily price revision was implemented.
Congress leader and Health Minister of Chhattisgarh TS Singh Deo said that the BJP government was extorting “unbearable taxes”.
Saket Gokhale, national spokesperson for All India Trinamool Congress, said that the Centre was “squeezing the middle class”.
On Tuesday, fuel prices were increased by 80 paise a litre. The second hike happened on Wednesday, with the prices increasing by 80 paise per litre again.
The third increase was announced on Friday, when Opposition leaders walked out of the House to protest the rising fuel prices.
“We don’t know how many more hikes await the people of India,” Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi said on Friday during Zero Hour. “They [people of India] want an environment where they can do their business but all these price hikes have increased the cost of business, especially the price of transportation, and this will lead to inflation.”
Congress leader and Lok Sabha member from Kozhikode constituency K Muraleedharan appealed to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to stop the price rise.
“My request to the finance minister is to arrest the price rise of petrol and diesel because all-over India especially poor people are now suffering,” he said in the Lower House on Friday.
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