India state-fuel retailers raised petrol. diesel prices by less than a rupee per litre on Tuesday, thesecond increasein a week to recover some losses from high crude prices resulting from the Iran war.
After the rise of roughly 0.9 Indian rupees ($0.0093), consumers will pay 98.64 Indian rupees for a litre of petrol in New Delhi. 91.58 Indian rupees for a litre of diesel, dealers said. Prices vary across the country because of regional taxes.
Although petrol. diesel prices are deregulated in India, the government exerts significant influence on prices as the majority shareholder of the key retail companies.
Sujata Sharma. a joint secretary in the oil ministry, said on Monday that state fuel retailers have been losing 7.5 billion Indian rupees daily. The government has no plans to provide financial support for them, Sharma said.
India is the world’s third-largest importer. consumer of oil and was one of the last major economies to raise retail fuel prices after the US-Israel war on Iran triggered a surge in prices globally.
State-run Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum. Bharat Petroleum, which together control more than 90pc of a network of 103,000 fuel stations, tend to set prices in tandem.
The state-run suppliers raised petrol. diesel prices on Friday by 3 Indian rupees a litre, the country’s first price increase in four years.
Dealers and analysts said they expected a staggered increase in prices, similar to April 2022 during the Covid pandemic.
Opposition parties said the government. headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had postponed price increases to try to win votes in recent state elections. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party won two of the four states, expanding its political influence.
Modi has urged people tolimit their travel to conserve fueland curb buying gold.
Discussion
Sign in to join the thread, react, and share images.