From now on, the price of petrol will be revised once a month. However, there will be no immediate change in its price. Such a decision was on the cards ever since the oil ministry decided, on June 25, to deregulate the petrol price. The periodicity was finalised after a meeting of the heads of the three state-owned oil companies -Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) – with Petroleum Secretary S. Sundareshan on Wednesday. “There is no need to increase petrol prices immediately. All refiners will review prices together,” IOC Director (Finance) S.V. Narasimhan said.
Petrol prices were last increased on June 25 – by Rs 3.50 per litre. Narasimhan added the oil firms had also decided to keep the price of petrol the same at all petrol pumps – whether run by IOC, HPCL or BPCL.
In order to avoid cartelisation or hoarding by dealers, the date on which the monthly price revision will take place will not be revealed beforehand. “We may revise prices on any day of the month,” he said. With deregulation, India will follow the price of petrol in the international oil market and will align domestic prices with it every month.
The three PSU oil firms said they held discussions with private retailers – Reliance Industries, Essar Oil and Royal Dutch/Shell – too.
