State-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) have increased the price of sensitive petroleum products like petrol and diesel for the 10th consecutive day after they returned to the normal practice of daily reviews following a 12-week pause.
The price revison makes petrol and diesel costliest since October 2018 even as crude oil rates have come down to multi-year lows globally.
According to India's largest fuel retailer, Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), the price of petrol was increased by 47 paisa to ₹76.73 a litre in Delhi, while the price of diesel was increased by 57 paisa a litre to ₹75.19 in the national capital.
A litre of petrol now costs ₹78.55 in Kolkata, ₹83.62 in Mumbai and Rs 80.37 in Chennai.
Similarly, after price revision, a litre of diesel now costs ₹70.84 in Kolkata, ₹73.75 in Mumbai and ₹ 73.17 in Chennai.
Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.
The price of petrol and diesel has gone up by ₹5.47 a litre and ₹5.80 a litre respectively in the last 10 days after the OMCs resumed daily revision of fuel prices from June 7, after a gap of 82 days during Covid-19 lockdown.
Fuel retailing in the country is dominated by OMCs - IOCL, Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL). The three own about 90% of the retail fuel outlets in the country.
ATF prices hiked by over 16%
Besides petrol and diesel prices, the OMCs have increased the prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) or jet fuel by over 16%, making the second hike in a month.
ATF will now cost ₹39,069.87 per kilolitre (kl) in Delhi, ₹44024 per kl in Kolkata, ₹38,565.06 per kl in Mumbai and ₹40,239.63 per kl in Chennai for the domestic airlines.
ATF prices are revised one the 1st and 16th of every month unlike petrol and diesel, which are revised daily.
The sharp rise in ATF prices is likely further burden airlines who are still facing a severe revenue crunch due to limited operations as ATF constitutes about 50% of the operational cost of airlines.
