Bhubaneswar: Finance minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadai on Thursday urged the Centre to waive all taxes levied on petrol and roll back the hike to avoid a major economic disaster. Reacting to the Rs 7.50-paise hike per litre of petrol, he said the common people would be hit hard and it would affect the transport sector the maximum.

But indicate prices may come down next month. While maintaining that there will be no immediate rollback of the hike in petrol prices, oil companies have indicated that prices may come down next month as part of the revision exercise. While the move to hike petrol prices is being opposed by political parties, stock markets and industry have cheered the move and even the rupee gained strength today on the back of improved sentiment.

New Delhi: Expect the discounts on petrol cars to get sweeter, and the waiting list on diesel cars to be longer. The steep Rs 7.50-hike in petrol price is set to further fuel the demand for diesel models as the fuel’s lower running cost and steady pricing will add to its attraction. While sentiment in the car market
remains weak — hit by inflation, slowing economy and pinching petrol price — diesel models will be the only succour for carmakers and buyers.

New Delhi State-owned fuel marketers IOC, HPCL and BPCL on Thursday ruled out an immediate rollback of the steepest petrol price increase of R7.5-R8 a litre from Thursday night but conceded that if the government instructs them to cut prices, they have no other go but to follow their majority shareholder.

They also indicated that if petrol price falls in world markets or rupee strengthens against the dollar this fortnight, the resultant gain shall be passed on to the consumer by way of a price cut.

Companies expedite plans to roll out more models to meet demand

The Congress led UDF government in Kerala on Thursday waived the sales tax on the latest petrol price hike, saying it was committed to bringing some relief to the people affected by the latest increase.

"UDF government does not justify the Centre's decision to increase prices. But we are committed to bringing some relief to people and are bringing down sales tax on petrol. With this decision, petrol price will come down by Rs. 1.63 per litre," Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told reporters after a special cabinet meeting here on Thursday.

Chandigarh: Consumers in Punjab will have to shell out more than the Rs 7.50 per litre hike in petrol prices. Because of the high taxes imposed by Punjab on petrol, it will now cost Rs 8.19 per litre more. With the hike, petrol in Punjab will be the second most expensive in the country after Karnataka. It will now cost Rs 80.65 per litre as compared to Rs 81.07 per litre in Bangalaore. This is because the state government imposes heavy taxes on petrol, that is almost 31.25 per cent of the petrol cost.

New Delhi: Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday laid the onus of the petrol price hike on oil marketers. “The decision has been taken. Petrol is a deregulated commodity,” he said. The government had freed petrol prices in June 2010 when crude came down to around $40 a barrel from a historic high of $147 per barrel in July 2008. But in practice, oil companies do not move without a signal from the parent oil ministry which officially continues to deny any control.

New Delhi: By the time you read this, the price of petrol would have gone up by more than Rs 7.50 a litre across the country. The increase, the steepest-ever, came a day after Parliament’s Budget session ended and PM Manmohan Singh talked about the need for “difficult decisions”. After adding state taxes, petrol will cost Rs 73.18 a litre in Delhi, Rs 78.57 in Mumbai, Rs 77.88 in Kolkata and Rs 77.53 a litre in Chennai. This marks an increase of around 10% and puts a squeeze of about Rs 6,000 a year on a family that spends an average of Rs 5,000 per month on petrol.