After 16 days of hike, fuel prices cut by 1 paisa, not 60 paise
CONFUSION Consumers fume after oil company posts wrong prices of petrol, diesel on site; Kerala cuts price by ~1
After continuous hike in fuel price for 16 consecutive days, Wednesday saw a marginal cut by 1 paise, but it came with its share of confusion.
The Indian Oil Corporation Ltd website showed a reduction in petrol price by 60 paise while diesel was down by 59 paise. The oil marketing company (OMC) soon realised the error and rectified it.“There was a technical glitch in posting the selling prices of petrol and diesel on our website today,” the OMC said in a statement. After the reduction, petrol price stood at ~78.42 and diesel at ~69.30 in Delhi.
Meanwhile, after opposition Congress launched an attack on the Kerala government, the state on Wednesday reduced local taxes on petrol products by ~1. The revised price will come into effect from June 1.
It became the first and the only state so far to reduce local taxes after fuel prices rose unabated for 16 consecutive days.
According to the Indian Oil website, the petrol price in Trivandrum stood at ~82.61 and diesel price at ~75.19 on Wednesday.
OMCs such as Indian Oil revise fuel prices everyday based on international crude
NEWDELHI:
price, currency fluctuation among other factors, to reflect it on their websites at 6am daily.
Crude prices softened as Saudi Arabia and Russia said they are discussing reviving output as prices jumped to levels last seen in 2014. Brent futures that traded above $80 a barrel last week slumped to around $75 on Monday. But fall in international price did not translate to immediate cuts in retail prices, as OMCs had stopped price revision during the Karnataka polls, and were adjusting the losses made during that period.
Faced with mounting pressure as fuel prices touched record highs, the government has begun a huddle to look at long-term solutions to tackle sudden spikes in global crude prices. Though the demand has been to cut excise duty on fuel prices to give consumers immediate relief, the government so far has refused to step in with a knee jerk reaction. The government had taken advantage of a sliding crude since November 2014 to shore up revenue by hiking excise duty on fuel nine times between November 2014 and January 2016.