Petrol and diesel prices slashed; first decrease in two months

Petrol and diesel prices in India have been reduced by 89 paise and 49 paise respectively. This reduction is the first in two months bringing in some respite from the upward trend of rising fuel prices.

Petrol is now priced at Rs. 64.76 per litre in Delhi and diesel costs Rs 54.70 per litre. This price cut is now applicable as it was revised from the midnight of Thursday, 30th June, 2016.

The fuel prices have been continuously rising since May this year. In fact, after the last four hikes, petrol was costlier by Rs 4.52 per litre and diesel by Rs 7.72 per litre. The last recorded revision in fuel prices was on June 16, when petrol prices increased by 5 paise and diesel rose by Rs 1.26.

Indian Oil Corp (IOC), state-owned fuel retailer, said in a statement, "The current level of international product prices of petrol and diesel and Rupee-US Dollar exchange rate warrant decrease in selling price of petrol and diesel, the impact of which is being passed on to the consumers with this price revision."

International oil prices and USD-INR exchange rates are some of the factors that affect the fuel prices in India. These are monitored by state-owned fuel retailers like Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) according to orders from the Government of India. Then the decision to increase or decrease the fuel prices is taken on the 1st and 16th of each month according to the market trend.