Major relief or comic relief? Petrol prices cut only by 1 paisa not 59 paisa; check latest prices
Petrol pirces today: The big cut in petrol prices, initially touted as a major relief for the common man, turned out to be a comic relief after after IOC’s website corrected the prices, implying only a 1 paisa cut as opposed to 59 paise reported earlier. According to the revised prices published, one litre of petrol retailed at Rs 78.42 in Delhi; Rs 81.05 in Kolkata; Rs 86.23 in Mumbai; and Rs 81.42 in Chennai, all implying a 1 paisa cut from yesterday’s prices. Initially, the 59 paisa cut had come as a welcome relief, as it was a major reduction after 16 consecutive days of hike following the Karnataka polls.
The image below shows a petrol receipt with the unit rate at Rs 78.42 in Delhi on 30/05/2018.
Petrol and diesel prices were hiked yesterday for the 16th day in a row even as oil prices were mixed. The fuel prices were hiked by 15-16 paise on Tuesday. According to Indian Oil website, petrol price in Delhi was Rs 78.43 a litre on 29 May 2018; Kolkata — Rs 81.06 a litre; Mumbai — Rs 86.24 a litre; Chennai — Rs 81.43 a litre. Diesel price in Delhi was Rs 69.31 a litre on 29 May 2018; Kolkata — Rs 71.86 a litre; Mumbai — Rs 73.79 litre; Chennai — Rs 73.18 a litre. In Mumbai, the price rose beyond the Rs 86 mark on Monday.
The fuel price cut, though modest, apparently came after it was learnt that rising prices of fuel are likely to weigh on the Reserve Bank’s rate-setting panel, Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), at its 3-day meet from June 4. This is the first time that the Monetary Policy Committee will meet for three days due to “administrative exigencies”. In the normal course, it meets every two months for two-days before making public its monetary policy stance.
“The MPC will meet on June 4-6, 2018 for the Second Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement for 2018-19. The resolution of the MPC will be placed on the website at 2.30 pm on June 6, 2018,” the Reserve Bank of India said in a statement today. The MPC was originally scheduled to meet on June 5, but the meeting has been advanced by a day. The monetary policy review will take into account the retail inflation which rose to a 4-month high of 3.18 per cent in April mainly on account of increasing prices of petrol and diesel. RBI mainly factors in retail inflation, based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), while deciding the key interest rate.
The domestic retail petrol and diesel prices are at all time high on account of rise in crude oil prices in international market. High petrol and diesel prices can further fuel inflationary expectations. At the April 4-5 MPC meeting, RBI Deputy Governor and member Viral Acharya had cited revival in investment activity and an improvement in capacity utilisation for his switch from a neutral stance to shift “decisively to vote for a beginning of withdrawal of accommodation in the next monetary policy meeting in June”.
