There is no respite for customers of auto fuel.

From Friday, every litre of petrol will be dearer by Rs 0.27 and diesel by Rs 0.15. Thus, the retail price of petrol in Delhi will now be Rs 63.64 a litre and that in Chennai at Rs 67.49 a litre.

This follows a decision by the Government to raise the commission paid to petrol pump dealers. The dealers' commission on petrol has been raised from Rs 1,218 per kilolitre to Rs 1,499 per kl, resulting in Rs 0.27 per litre increase in retail price.

The commission on diesel has been raised from Rs 757 per kl to Rs 912 per kl, resulting in Rs 0.15 a litre increase in retail prices. Last week, the Government had raised diesel rates by Rs 3 a litre. Now, diesel in Delhi will cost Rs 41.27 a litre and in Chennai Rs 43.95 a litre.

However, the Federation of All India Petroleum Traders (FAIPT) felt that this increase was lower than what was proposed. Even after 10 months, the Ministry has not implemented its own committee's recommendation fully, it said.

The committee had recommended Rs 0.39 a litre increase in commission for petrol and Rs 0.17 on diesel.

Mr Ajay Bansal, General Secretary, FAIPT, said, “Our demand for five per cent commission on the invoice value of the petroleum products has been turned down by the committee without any proper reason. Petrol prices have been increased by Rs 22 a litre and diesel by Rs 9 a litre in the last two years without any substantial increase in our margins.”

As of now, dealers get Rs 1.21 a litre for petrol and Rs 0.76 for diesel, which comes out of 1.4 per cent of sale price as fixed margin, he said. Whereas dealers in neighbouring countries get a much better commission on percentage basis. In Nepal, dealers get 3 per cent, Pakistan 4 per cent, and Sri Lanka 5 per cent on sale price, he added.

The FAIPT reiterated its demand to the Ministry asking it consider shifting the commission formula on percentage basis instead of fixed margin system and fully implement its committee's recommendation on commission.

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