Petrol dearer; pay Rs 62.81 in City

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi/Bengaluru, Feb 16, 2015, DHNS & PTI: Petrol price was hiked by 82 paise per litre and diesel by 61 paise on Sunday, reversing the declining trend of the last six months.

In Bengaluru, petrol will now cost Rs 62.81 per litre , 80 paise higher than the Rs 62.01 earlier. The price of non-branded diesel will be Rs 50.72 per litre, up 66 paise from Rs 50.06 earlier.

A litre of petrol in Delhi will cost Rs 57.31 from Monday, as against Rs 56.49 currently, while diesel will cost Rs 46.62 per litre as against Rs 46.01 at present, announced oil companies here on Sunday.

The hike, effective from midnight on Sunday, is the first since August 2014 and follows firming of oil prices in the international market.

Prices of petrol and diesel were revised downwards on February 4 by Rs 2.42 and Rs 2.25 per litre, respectively, on the back of declining international oil prices.
Prior to Sunday’s increase, petrol price had been cut on 10 occasions since August, and diesel six times since October.

Even after the increase, petrol price is the lowest since September 2010, while diesel is the cheapest since March 2013. Cumulatively, petrol had been cut by Rs 17.11 per litre in 10 reductions since August, and diesel by Rs 12.96 a litre since deregulation in October.
The reduction would have been bigger but for four consecutive excise duty hikes since November, totalling Rs 7.75 a litre on petrol and Rs 7.50 on diesel.

“There has been a steep increase in international prices of both petrol and diesel, and the rupee-dollar exchange rate has also depreciated slightly since the last revision. The combined impact of both these factors warrants increase in Retail Selling Prices of both petrol and diesel,” said Indian Oil Corp, the nation’s largest fuel retailer.