Petrol price up Rs6 per litre since July; diesel gains Rs3.67

The retail price of petrol has moved up by Rs6 per litre, gaining in small doses since the beginning of July, and is now priced at a three-year high of around Rs70 per litre.

A litre of petrol costs Rs69.04 a litre in Delhi, the highest since the second-half of August 2014 when it was priced at Rs70.33.

Similarly, the retail price of diesel has increased by Rs3.67 a litre during the period and is now perched at a three-month high of Rs57.03 a litre in Delhi, the highest in four months, according to data from state-owned oil marketing companies.

State-owned oil companies have started a dynamic daily price revision of retail prices of petrol and diesel since mid-June, dumping the earlier practice of revising rates on the 1st and 16th of every month.

"Prices of petrol and diesel are being revised at 0600 hrs every day since 16 June," an official statement said. Retail prices of petrol and diesel, which dropped during the latter half of June have been rising since 3 July.

Petrol price was at Rs65.48 a litre on 16 June in Delhi and to Rs63.06 by 2 July. However, rates have since gone up every day except on four occasions when prices were cut by 2–9 paise per litre.

Similarly, a litre of diesel, which cost Rs54.49 on 16 June dropped to Rs53.36 by 2 July as international oil prices cooled. Since then, it has been on an upswing.

Between petrol and diesel, the reduction in diesel rates have been more often than that of petrol.

''Previously, everybody felt the pinch when rates would go up by Rs2 or Rs3 per litre in one go. Now they are being increased by 1 paisa to 15 paise a litre everyday, hikes that have largely gone unnoticed,'' a senior oil company executive said.

The daily revision in prices help oil companies to effect changes in fuel prices simultaneously with fluctuations in international oil price, avoiding the time lag in the previous practice of passing it on only after a fortnight.

The switch-over from fortnightly revision to daily price revision will finally lead to oil marketing companies starting market-linked pricing of products.

Petrol and diesel prices were deregulated or the earlier administered pricing mechanism in a phased manner beginning 1 April 2002, and the switch-over is almost complete except in the cases of liquefied petroleum gas and kerosene used for domestic use.