Diesel price hike will do little to alleviate refiners' woes

The public sector oil refiners, which have been left poorer by Rs 8,000 crore this fiscal after the partial hike in petrol, are now gearing up for more bad news on the diesel pricing front. Indications are that the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), scheduled to meet in the coming days, will recommend Rs 4/litre increase in diesel when the actual losses are over four times as much. In the process, this will shave off barely Rs 30,000 crore of the projected Rs 116,000 crore losses in 2011-12