The government on Friday hiked the prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 2.21 per litre and Rs 1.79 a litre respectively.
The increased prices, which are effective from Friday midnight, exclude charges levied by each state. This comes hours after oil companies deferred a planned Rs 2.26 a litre hike in petrol and Rs 1.78 increase in diesel Friday morning.
The actual hike after considering VAT would be ₹2.84 per litre in Delhi for petrol and ₹2.11 for diesel.
After the hike, petrol in Delhi will cost ₹68.94 per litre as against ₹66.10 currently, said Indian Oil Corp, the nation’s largest fuel retailer.
Similarly, a litre of diesel will cost ₹56.68 as compared to ₹54.57 now.
IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) revise rates on 1st and 16th of every month based on average international price in the previous fortnight.
But an increase that was warranted because of a rise in international gasoline (petrol) price to USD 62.82 per barrel from USD 57.43 and that of diesel to USD 60.97 from USD 56.79 was not announced on Thursday.
Industry sources said the deferment was because Parliament was in session and any hike would have added to the discomfort of the government, particularly when it is facing heat over hardships caused by currency demonetisation.
Rates were last revised on 1 December when petrol price was hiked by a marginal 13 paise a litre, but diesel rates were cut by 12 paise.
Prior to the 1 December price change, rates were hiked by ₹1.46 a litre in the case of petrol and ₹1.53 per litre for diesel, excluding local levies, on 16 November.
“The current level of international product prices of petrol and diesel and Rupee-US Dollar exchange rate warrant increase in selling price of petrol and diesel, the impact of which is being passed on to the consumers with this price revision,” IOC said in a statement.
It said the movement of prices in the international oil market and foreign exchange rate shall continue to be monitored closely and developing trends of the market will be reflected in future price changes.
