The unremitting losses incurred by the State-run oil marketing companies (OMC) may compel them to hike the prices of petrol by another Rs 5 on Friday, a news channel has reported.
Under-recoveries on account of higher crude prices in the global markets resulted in huge losses, say the OMCs.
Yesterday, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas R P N Singh said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha said, “Whereas the price of petrol in India is comparable to many of the countries, the price of diesel in India is lower in comparison to the neighbouring and European countries.”
Petrol in India costs more than it does in the US as well as neighbouring Pakistan and Sri Lanka, but is cheaper than in Europe.
Petrol in the national capital costs Rs 68.46 per litre as compared to Rs 53.32 a litre in Pakistan, Rs 61.56 in Sri Lanka and Rs 62.25 in Bangladesh.
Within India, petrol is costliest in Kolkata at Rs 76.15 due to high incidence of local sales tax or VAT. It is lowest in Panjim where it is priced at Rs 57 per litre as Goa government does not levy any VAT on the fuel.
West Bengal government levies a VAT of 26.78 percent while it is 20 percent in Delhi. VAT makes up for Rs 10.94 in the Rs 68.46 per litre price of petrol in the national capital.
–PTI