The Centre on Tuesday raised the prices of petrol and diesel by about 90 paise per litre, marking the second hike in less than a week, as state-run oil firms sought to reduce mounting losses caused by soaring crude oil prices globally due to the West Asia crisis.
The price of petrol in New Delhi climbed from Rs 97.77 to Rs 98.64 per litre, while that of diesel went from Rs 90.67 to Rs 91.58 per litre. On May 15, the government announced an increase of Rs 3 per litre increase in petrol and diesel prices, marking the first revision in retail fuel prices in nearly four years.
The Opposition criticised the government over the second fuel price hike in quick succession, with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior party leader Rahul Gandhi launching a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
During a visit to his Lok Sabha constituency of Rae Bareli, Rahul warned of an impending economic storm and said PM Modi was urging people to refrain from flying abroad but was himself travelling to several countries.
“Petrol prices are set to rise and inflation will skyrocket. Yet they say, Rahul Gandhi has no understanding. Even today, we continue to tell them — take action, protect the public, protect the farmers. But they have nothing to do. Sometimes they fly off to Norway, then to Japan and then somewhere else. Why?” he asked.
Kharge said while the PM was preaching about savings, the government was shifting the burden of their failures onto the public.
The price of crude oil has increased by more than 50 per cent since late February following US-Israeli strikes on Iran and challenges to shipments via the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global oil transit route.
The government said fuel retailers had maintained low pump prices in spite of growing input costs in order to protect customers from inflation. Petroleum Ministry’s Joint Secretary Sujata Sharma said on Monday that the May 15 increase reduced losses by about a fourth, but state-run oil firms were still losing around Rs 750 crore per day.
According to CRISIL, the oil marketing companies were losing roughly Rs 10 per litre on petrol and Rs 13 per litre on diesel even after the May 15 hike.
The prices of petrol and diesel are currently at its record level since May 2022. With the exception of a Rs 2 per litre reduction in March 2024 ahead of the General Elections, prices had remained frozen since April 2022.
