The Union government has hiked petrol prices by Rs 2.35 a litre and diesel by 50 paise a litre (excluding State levies) on the evening of August 31. A further raise could be on the way as per the indication of the Union Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily. Though he did not indicate the quantum of hike, the wide expectation is that the companies are pitching for an increase of almost Rs 3-5 a litre for diesel, PDS kerosene Rs 2/litre and domestic LPG Rs 50/cylinder.
The falling Indian rupee has hit the public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) fiscally. In this regard, Moily has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram and urged them to take steps to check the deteriorating financial health of the oil marketing companies (OMCs).
Moily told the PM and FM that consistent rupee depreciation has a severe impact on the under-recovery (loss incurred) of the OMCs and consequently on their financial health. If the present position persists, the total under-recovery would reach to a level of Rs 1,80,000 crore in the current financial year as compared to Rs 1,61,000 crore during the financial year 2012-13.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.