New Delhi: Petrol prices touched Rs 113.47 and diesel Rs 99.82 per litre in Kolkata after state-owned oil companies effected the fourth hike in retail fuel rates in 11 days, raising petrol prices by another Rs 2.86 and diesel by Rs 2.80 to cut losses from selling auto fuels below market cost.The cumulative increase in petrol and diesel prices in Kolkata now stands at Rs 8.06 and Rs 7.80 respectively. Govt, however, said cumulative under-recoveries on petrol, diesel and LPG were now slightly below Rs 600 crore/day, indicating further hikes may be on cards.After the first hike of Rs 3 a litre on May 15 amid the current geopolitical situation that disrupted energy supplies and triggered a global surge in crude prices, govt had said under-recoveries had declined 25% to Rs 750 crore a day.In Delhi, petrol breached the Rs 100-a-litre-mark for the first time to touch Rs 102.12 after a hike of Rs 2.61. Diesel prices rose by Rs 2.71 to Rs 95.20 a litre. In Mumbai, petrol now costs Rs 111.21, while diesel is priced at Rs 97.83. In Chennai, petrol costs Rs 107.77 per litre and diesel Rs 99.55. The quantum of hike varies because value-added tax structures differ across states.In Mumbai, FM Nirmala Sitharaman defended the price hike, saying it was a market-driven revision by oil marketing companies in response to soaring global crude prices. She said govt shielded consumers for 75 days or so by over Rs 1 lakh crore annually by slashing excise by Rs 10 a litre.Sujata Sharma, joint secretary in the ministry of petroleum, said rising global crude prices had affected all countries, but the impact on India was lower because losses were being absorbed by govt and oil companies.“Globally, the increase in petrol prices is 22% and in diesel 27%. But in India it is much lower — 7.7% on petrol and 8.6% on diesel. Before the increase in fuel prices, govt took all possible measures. It reduced excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 10, and the impact on the exchequer is Rs 14,000 crore a year,” Sharma said, adding that excise duty on petrol and diesel has been reduced by Rs 21 on petrol and Rs 24 on diesel since 2021. “Despite these steps, OMCs were losing Rs 1,000 crore a day, which has come down to under Rs 600 crore after the hikes.”Justifying the hikes, Sharma said the profit earned by the three state-run OMCs in the last financial year would be wiped out by losses incurred in just one quarter of the current fiscal. She said the OMCs needed funds for capital expenditure to raise refining capacity to 300 million tonnes per annum over the next 3-4 years. Taxes paid by these companies to govt were used for building schools, hospitals and roads, and for various welfare programmes, she added.Corporate ratings agency ICRA said despite the latest increase, under-recoveries remained high because of mounting losses on domestic LPG sales and the elevated premium over the crude benchmark.
