New Delhi, Nov 1: State-run fuel retailers on Thursday cut petrol price by Rs 1.15 a litre, excluding local taxes, the second reduction in a month that would help spread some cheer ahead of Diwali.
As expected, the retailers also raised diesel price by 50 paise a litre in line with the government's January decision to go for small revisions every month till the gap with the market rate is wiped out.
The new prices will be effective from the intervening midnight of Thursday and Friday. For petrol, the actual cut at pump level will be Rs 1.38 from Rs 71.02 in Delhi due to incremental reduction in VAT. Similarly, it will cost Rs 78.04 a litre in Mumbai against Rs 79.49.
Diesel price in Delhi has been hiked by 56 paise to Rs 53.10 per litre, while it will cost Rs 60.08 in Mumbai, up from Rs 59.46.
This is the 10th hike in diesel price and should have brought the fuel's rate to market level. But the rupee's devaluation widened the gap between government-controlled retail and market prices to Rs 14.50 per litre. After Thursday's hike and the recent hardening of the rupee, the gap is pegged at Rs 9.58.
Petrol rates were last reduced on October 1 by Rs 3.05 per litre, or Rs 3.66 after including VAT in Delhi. This was the first cut since June and came after seven increases aggregating Rs 10.80 per litre, excluding VAT, or Rs 13.06 after including state tax as the rupee depreciated sharply against the dollar.
"Since the last price change, international prices of petrol have declined marginally from about $113 per barrel to about $112. The rupee-dollar exchange rate has appreciated from around Rs 63 to a dollar to around Rs 62. Both these factors have resulted into a reduction in prices of petrol," IndianOil Corporation, the nation's largest fuel retailer, said in a statement.
Besides diesel, oil firms are losing Rs 35.77 per litre on sale of kerosene and Rs 482.50 per 14.2-kg domestic cooking gas cylinder. These are lower than Rs 38.32 and Rs 532.50 loss incurred last month.
At current rates, IOC projected a revenue loss of Rs 71,200 crore on sale of diesel, cooking gas and kerosene for the 2013-14 fiscal. If figures for all the three retailers are taken together, under-recovery would be Rs 135,900 crore.
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