State-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) have reduced the prices of sensitive petroleum products such as petrol by 24-27 paise a litre and diesel by 24-26 paise a litre across major cities as the price of international crude oil fell the most in a day since the Gulf war in the ’90s .
Petrol prices in Delhi decreased by ₹0.24 to to ₹70.59 per litre while diesel dropped by ₹0.25 to ₹63.26 per litre in Delhi, according to Indian Oil Corporation data.
In Mumbai, petrol prices were cut by ₹0.27 and are now retailing at ₹76.29 a litre. Diesel prices, on the other hand, stand at ₹66.24 a litre after witnessing a price cut of ₹0.26 from last changed prices.
Down ₹5 per litre
The prices of petrol and diesel have come down by about ₹5 a litre each since the beginning of this year.
In Kolkata, petrol was retailing at ₹73.28 a litre, down 23 paise compared with yesterday’s price of ₹73.51 a litre while a litre of diesel will cost ₹65.59, or 25 paise less than yesterday’s rate. Similarly, in Chennai, prices of petrol and diesel are ₹73.33 (25 paise less) a litre and ₹66.75 (26 paise decrease) a litre, respectively.
The prices of petrol and diesel are likely to come down further in the coming weeks as India follows the monthly average pricing of benchmark crude oil.
Experts see the Brent crude oil price fall as a blessing for the macroeconomy as India imports over 83% of its requirements. Shares of state-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) surged on falling crude oil prices.
On the BSE, shares of HPCL gained 6.17% to close at ₹213.25.
BPCL shares closed up 5.2% to ₹423.80 in a weak Mumbai market on Monday. Meanwhile shares of Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) fell 1.34% to close at ₹99.45 on Monday.
