Petro shocker again; price to go up by Rs 1.82

Thursday, November 03, 2011: State run oil companies have hiked petrol prices by Rs. 1.82 per litre with effect from Thursday midnight.

Indian Oil, HPCL and Bharat Petroleum had last hiked petrol prices by Rs. 3.14 a litre on September 16, when the Indian rupee was valued at about Rs. 48 per US dollar. The exchange rate is now over Rs. 49 per US dollar.

The Petroleum Ministry had earlier said it is up to the oil firms to decide on raising the rates of the deregulated commodity. The government had in June last year deregulated, or freed, petrol from all price controls, but the retail rates have not moved in line with the cost as high inflation forced the oil companies to seek “advice” from the parent Oil Ministry before revising rates.