Oil ministry moves Cabinet note on diesel, LPG price hike

The Petroleum Ministry has sent a comprehensive note to the Cabinet Secretariat listing various options for increasing the prices of diesel and LPG, sources told NDTV.

Earlier, sources said oil marketing companies are likely to hike the prices of all categories of fuel after the current session of Parliament ends. The monsoon session of Parliament is scheduled to end this week.

The Finance Ministry is out of funds to subsidize products any longer, the sources added.

The Prime Minister has seen the note, and a final call on the quantum of the hikes is not decided yet.

An EGoM has not been constituted for the same and a meeting of the Cabinet Committee of Political Affairs (CCPA) will have to be convened for taking a decision on this politically sensitive matter.

Oil firms are currently losing Rs 1.37 a litre on petrol, Rs 19.26 a litre on diesel, Rs 34.34 per litre on kerosene and Rs 347 per cylinder of domestic cooking gas.

International crude prices have again touched $115 per barrel.

Prices of diesel as well as LPG and kerosene have not been increased since June last year, although the cost of production has jumped nearly 28 per cent, industry sources said.

Governments will come and go, but oil companies have to be saved at any cost, the sources said.

Oil companies revised prices of petrol only on four occasions this fiscal year: a hike of Rs. 7.54 a litre on May 24, followed by a partial rollback by Rs. 2.02 per litre on June 3, and a reduction of Rs. 2.46 a litre on June 29, followed by a marginal hike of Rs. 0.70 a litre on July 24.