Petrol, diesel prices hiked after shift to Euro-IV norms

Petrol prices will go up by 50 paise per litre and diesel by 26 paise per litre in 13 major cities, including Mumbai and Delhi, from midnight tonight on account of switching to the cleaner Euro-IV grade fuel from the current Euro-III grade.

These 13 cities which will see a price hike are Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Surat, Ahmedabad, Pune, and Sholapur.

This hike comes close on the heels of a significant increase in prices that came into effect soon after the union budget. The petroleum ministry had hiked prices petrol and diesel price by 6 per cent and 7.8 per cent per cent respectively. Oil Secretary S Sundareshan had announced India's intention to cut emissions to come closer to fuel quality in Europe, which now follows Euro V standards.

As a result, the price of petrol in Delhi will go up to Rs47.93 a litre and diesel to Rs38.10 a litre. Rates in the other cities will depend on local taxes.

The rest of the country will switch from Euro-II specification fuel to Euro-III in phases, beginning with Goa from Thursday. Sale of Euro-III grade fuel will be phased out over the next five to six months.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was approached by the petroleum ministry for clearance, had on Tuesday approved of the price hike. Oil companies have invested Rs40,000 crore in putting up facilities to produce cleaner fuel and the prices have been increased to make up for the cost.