No Petrol Price Hike For Now

A good news for the people is that the oil companies may not raise fuel prices today pending a clarification from the government on duty reduction and subsidy compensation.

According to a top oil company official, the State-owned oil companies' losses on petrol sales have climbed to Rs 7.65 per litre and have asked the government to make good the losses they incur on selling petrol if retail selling price of the fuel are not to be increased. Also, they have demanded a cut in the Rs 14.35 a litre excise duty on petrol. "We had clearly told the government that if these demands are not accepted, then oil companies will have no option but to raise petrol prices," he said. "We haven't so far heard from the government and even though today is the day we were to revise prices, we have decided to wait for one more day," he added.