OMC’s slash price of petrol by 32 paise and diesel by 85 paise per litre

Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), have slashed prices of petrol and diesel for the fourth time in a row, on the back of a softening global oil market. Petrol and diesel prices were cut by 32 paise and 85 paise respectively, by oil marketing companies to pass on part of the benefit of falling global crude oil prices to consumer. The new rates announced are effective midnight January 15 /January 16. Post the revision, the price of petrol in Delhi is Rs 59.03 per litre as against Rs 59.35 currently, whereas a litre of diesel will cost Rs 44.18 as against Rs 45.03.

At the last revision, State run fuel retailers have slashed price of petrol and diesel by 63 paise a litre and Rs 1.06/ litre respectively. The near 18% fall in the price of the Indian crude basket in first fortnight of January warranted a steeper cut in the retail price of both fuels. But, a simultaneous raising of excise duty by the government, the eighth time since November 2014-limited the ability of oil marketing companies to pass on the full benefit of cheaper oil to consumers.

Meanwhile, the government had hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel, to mop up over by Rs 3,700 crore in additional revenue. The duty on petrol has been raised by 75 paise per litre, while that on diesel is up by Rs 2 per litre. The excise duty hike, second this month, would net the government an additional Rs 3,700 crore during the remainder of the fiscal year ending March 31.

After including additional and special excise duty, the total levy on unbranded petrol will be Rs 20.48 per litre, as against Rs 19.73 currently. Similarly, on unbranded or normal diesel, total excise duty after including special excise will be Rs 15.66 per litre compared with the Rs 13.83 now. The basic excise duty on unbranded or normal petrol has been increased to Rs 8.48 as against Rs 7.73 per litre and the same on unbranded diesel to Rs 9.83 per litre as against Rs 7.83. The basic excise duty on branded petrol has been raised from Rs 8.91 per litre to Rs 9.66 and the same on branded diesel from Rs 10.19 to Rs 12.19 per litre.