This is the third time that the IOC—country’s largest state-owned oil retailer—has raised the retail price of petrol since June 25 when the government decontrolled pricing of petrol.
On September 21 and October 17, the IOC marginally hiked retail prices of petrol in tune with the rise in cost of fuel. Under the decontrolled regime of petrol pricing, the government allows state-owned oil marketing firms to fix the price in line with the prevailing cost of fuel.
“IOC is increasing petrol price because of sharp rise in price of crude oil,” sources in IOC said. “Going by the current global crude oil price we need to raise retail price of petrol the Rs 1.1 per litre. We are not passing on the full burden to consumers,” sources said.
The price of global crude rude oil, the raw material for auto fuels, has shot up to USD 87 per barrel from USD 81-82 a barrel at the time of last revision in October. The other state-owned oil retailer, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), has also raised the Delhi retail price of petrol by 31 paise per litre.