India witnesses 14th hike in petrol, diesel prices in half month
INDIA: Fuel prices in India saw an increase for the 14th time on Wednesday, since March 22.
According to a price notification of state fuel retailers, in the Indian capital city Delhi, petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 0.80 rupee a litre respectively.
A liter of petrol in the Indian national capital now costs 105.41 rupees (1.39 U.S. dollars) and diesel is sold at 96.67 rupees.
Reports said the price of petrol in Mumbai has been increased by 0.84 rupee a liter, taking it to 120.51 rupees per liter, while diesel price was raised 0.85 rupee per liter, taking it to 104.77 rupees a liter. The fuel rates are the highest in Mumbai among India’s metropolitan cities.
Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending upon the incidence of local taxation.
Fuel rates were held steady for over four months in the country despite the spike in crude oil prices. The rate revision had ended on March 22. Critics said the rates were kept on hold due to the local elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.
On Tuesday India’s federal petroleum and natural gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri defended fuel price hike, comparing it with that of other countries, saying that India has merely seen a change of “only 5 percent”.
Meanwhile, Oil jumped on Monday, rising by as much as 4% after Saudi Arabia raised prices for some of its biggest customers to record highs for May, according to a Bloomberg report.
Brent crude futures were up 3.4% on Monday at US$ 107.88 a barrel, having risen to a session high of US$ 108.19, while West Texas Intermediate was up 4% at around US$ 103.25 a barrel. Oil prices soared to 14-year highs in March, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threw uncertainty around oil supply, as the country is the world’s second largest oil exporter. Surging cases of COVID in China, the world’s largest importer of energy, has dampened some of that bullishness, as investors have grown concerned about the potential impact to demand.
– XINHUA, BLOOMBERG