Petrol price cut by 80 paise/litre, diesel by Rs 1.30/litre

Petrol price was today cut by 80 paise a litre and diesel by Rs 1.30 per litre, the second reduction in rates this month.

The reduction will be effective from midnight tonight, Indian Oil Corp (IOC) said.

After the cut, petrol will cost Rs 59.20 a litre in Delhi and diesel will be available Rs 47.20/litre.

Prices of petrol and diesel were last revised downwards with effect from April 2 by Rs 0.49/litre and Rs 1.21/litre respectively.

Since last price change, the trend of international prices of petrol & diesel and INR-USD exchange rate warrant a further downward revision in prices, the impact of which is being passed on to consumers with this price decrease, IOC said. 

The second reduction in rates this month reverses two rounds of price hikes in February and March -- first by Rs 0.82 a litre in petrol and Rs 0.61 per litre in diesel on February 16, and by Rs 3.18 per litre in petrol and Rs 3.09 a litre in diesel on March 1.

Prior to these increases, petrol price had been cut 10 times since August 2014, and diesel 6 times since October 2014.

Cumulatively, petrol prices had been cut by Rs 17.11 per litre in 10 reductions since August and diesel by Rs 12.96 a litre since its deregulation in October.

State-owned fuel retailers IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) revise petrol and diesel prices on 1st and 16th of every month based on average imported cost and rupee-dollar exchange rate in the previous fortnight.

The movement of prices in international oil market and Rupee-USD exchange rate shall continue to be closely monitored and developing trends of the market will be reflected in future price changes, IOC said.