The cheer among consumers over petrol, diesel price cut proved to be short-lived, courtesy an error in the official website of Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL). Petrol and diesel prices were actually cut by 1 paisa per litre each in the capital city of Delhi on Wednesday instead of a bigger cut that was reported earlier by India’s largest fuel retailer.
Earlier in the morning, its website said that petrol and diesel prices have been cut by 60 paise and 56 paise per litre respectively.
This nevertheless, is the first time in 16 days that prices have been cut since May 14 when fuel retailers ended a 19-day pre-Karnataka poll hiatus to pass on a spike in global oil rates.
In all, petrol price was increased by Rs 3.8 per litre and diesel by Rs 3.38 in that fortnight.
Prices vary from state to state depending on local sales tax or VAT. Delhi has the cheapest price among all metros and most state capitals.
Petrol and diesel prices in India are linked to Singapore gasoline prices GL95-SIN and Arab Gulf diesel prices GO-AG, which mostly track movements in crude oil prices LCOc1.
Prasanta Patnaik