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Petrol price has been increased for the second time in a fortnight.
This comes a day after Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said in his Budget speech that inflation was “looming large over our efforts to stimulate growth”.
The price of auto fuel has been increased by Rs 1.40 a litre, excluding local levies, from Friday-Saturday midnight, public sector oil marketing company Indian Oil Corporation said in a statement. Taxes vary from one State to another. In Delhi, the hike would be around Rs 1.68 a litre after adding 20 per cent value-added tax. Petrol in Delhi will now cost around Rs 70.74 a litre, up from Rs 69.06/ litre.
On February 16, petrol price was increased by Rs 1.50 a litre, excluding taxes. The Government has lifted the controls on the commodity’s pricing and oil marketing companies now monitor and revise prices every fortnight to align them with the international market rates.
IOC said the hike had been necessitated by two factors. First, the international petrol prices have increased from $128.57 a barrel to $131 a barrel, since the last revision. Second, the rupee had depreciated from Rs 53.43 to Rs 54.15 a dollar during the period.
Future revision
Defending the increase, IOC said“International petrol prices over the year have shown a spurt during the first quarter of the calendar. They generally start levelling back during the second quarter. Keeping this trend in view, we do believe that there should be opportunities to revise the prices downward as and when the international petrol prices soften”.
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