Petrol in India more expensive than US, China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka

Petrol in India costs more than neighbouring Pakistan and Sri Lanka but is cheaper than Bangladesh and Nepal, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday.

Petrol price of ? 63.16 per litre in Delhi is more than ? 44.05 per litre rate of the fuel in Pakistan and ? 54.75 in Sri Lanka. However, it is cheaper than ? 76.97 per litre price in Bangladesh and ? 68.13 a litre in Nepal.

Diesel at ? 49.57 per litre in Delhi is however cheaper than all neighbouring nations except Sri Lanka, where it costs ? 44.29 for a litre, he said in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.

A litre of diesel in Pakistan costs ? 51.15, ? 54.27 in Bangladesh and ? 54.27 in Nepal.

Nepal sources all its auto fuel needs from India.

India had on four occasions between November 2014 and January 2015 raised excise duty on petrol and diesel to take away gains coming by way of global oil prices dipping to six-year low.

Cumulatively, excise duty on petrol was hiked by ? 7.75 per litre and that on diesel by ? 6.50 a litre. Post these duty hikes, retail price of petrol in Delhi should have been ? 55.41 a litre and diesel ? 43.07 per litre.

Mr Pradhan said a year ago, petrol in Delhi was second cheapest in South Asia. Petrol price of ? 71.41 a litre at Delhi was cheaper than Bangladesh (Rs 74.43), Sri Lanka (Rs 74.92) and Nepal (Rs 83.61) but costlier than ? 66.17 a litre price in Pakistan.

Similarly, diesel price of ? 55.49 on May 1, 2014 was cheaper than ? 71.27 in Pakistan, ? 56.17 in Sri Lanka and ? 65.84 in Nepal. It was however costlier than ? 52.55 per litre rate prevalent at that time in Bangladesh.