New Delhi: In the highest ever price raise, the government on Wednesday announced a Rs 5 a litre increase in petrol, Rs 3 on diesel and Rs 50 per LPG cylinder together with customs and excise duty cuts to combat spurt in global oil prices.
The hike announced by the UPA government, with less than a year to go for general elections, was met with opposition from its Left allies who announced a countrywide stir.
'Fuel price hike a slap on the face of common man'
With the international crude oil prices hovering around USD 74 per barrel, state-owned Indian Oil Corporation said it was not keen on increasing fuel prices "very frequently"."I have been always maintaining one stand that we would not like to change the price very frequently as long as the crude oil prices do not fluctuate...", Indian Oil Corporation Chairman B M Bansal told reporters here.
His comments came in the backdrop of anticipation of revision in fuel prices which were deregulated by the government in June this year.
"We don't have to change the price (frequently). We have seen in the last two and half months almost when the Motor speed price was deregulated (on June 25), so far we have not increased or decreased the price...," he said.
"We will have to see that we don't revise the price so frequently and if required if there is so much fluctuation in the crude oil then we will do it.. But we may not follow any sequence", he said.
Executives of three top companies that, together, authority cartel ascendancy over the bazaar accommodated with a government official and again appear to advertise they will set a accepted price. Is that amount acclimation or what?
I am apropos to the affair this morning of admiral from India’s arch accessible area oil companies – Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum – with Petroleum Secretary S. Sundareshan.
"All the three oil business companies will accept a compatible price," IOC’s Director (Finance) S.V. Narasimhan told reporters after batting an eyelid.
In best backer countries, the admiral would be befuddled into bastille for amount fixing. It should be no altered in India. It is not abundant to aloof “decontrol” petrol prices – finer adage the companies can set their own price, instead of affairs at government-mandated prices – but again acquiesce PSUs to collude, rather than compete.
The Federation of All India Petroleum Traders (FAIPT), which claims to represent all of the 38,700 petrol pumps in the country, said it has been, for the past two years, seeking a rise in dealers commission as the cost of maintaining retail stations has increased.
Staff wages besides power and water tariff have increased and so FAIPT
demanded that they be paid at least 5 per cent of the invoice value as commission instead of the present practice of paying a fixed margin.
"FAIPT has taken a decision that if our legitimate demands are not discussed and solved, we will have no option but to close all 37,800 petrol pumps all over India from September 20 till our demands are met," the association said in a press release in New Delhi.The association also demanded that mushrooming of petrol pumps, which has cut profitability of existing retail outlets, be stopped.
"If all concerned authorities allow to establish a petrol pump at a particular location, only a single pump should be opened by PSUs and there should not be competition amongst the PSU oil
companies," it said.
FAIPT also demanded uniform price of petroleum products throughout the country.
