Ever since the union government announced daily price revision of petrol and diesel products, state-run oil companies such as Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum which together operate around 54,000 petrol pumps in the country have raised the prices of petrol and diesel several times.
The petrol price has been hiked by Rs 5.79 per litre since July 1. In Delhi, petrol was being sold for Rs 68.88 per litre and diesel for Rs 57.06 on Wednesday. On July 1, the prices of petrol and diesel in the national capital were were Rs 63.09 and Rs 53.33 per litre respectively.
The government, which has excluded petrol and diesel from the ambit of GST (Goods and Service Tax) attracts various state and central levies such as excise and VAT.
Diesel and petrol prices, which were revised every fortnight until June 15, are now updated on a daily basis. Since June 16, fuel prices are revised at 6 a.m. every day.
But unlike earlier, this time there has been no fuss around the increase in the price of a traditionally politically sensitive item, on which even a minuscule hike would lead to strikes and street protests in the good old times. Many of you might be surprised to know that this time petrol price has risen by a whopping Rs 5.27 per litre in less than two months, and that too barely to anyone’s notice.
Prices of petrol and diesel have always been a sticky issue for political parties. Opposition parties have questioned the government's dynamic fuel pricing move. "BJP govt has been lucky that international oil prices have been falling ever since it came to office. Yet, benefit never passed on to people," Sitaram Yechury tweeted on Wednesday.
