Petrol prices hiked, second in a month

The petrol hike would increase the transport costs which is likely to trigger a fresh, allround increase in prices of various commodities. The common man’s domestic budget has already gone haywire with the prices of food items and vegetables shooting up sharply in the past few weeks.

This is the second hike in petrol prices within a span of one month. Earlier, the state-owned oil companies had increased the petrol prices on December 15-16 by Rs 2.94-2.96 per litre.
Petrol will now cost Rs 65.65 per litre in Bangalore while in Delhi it would cost at least Rs 58.39 per litre. Official sources attributed the latest hike to the rising crude oil prices in international market which jumped to US $ 92 a barrel.

Petrol prices will be up by Rs 2.50, Rs 2.53 and Rs 2.54 per litre at the retail outlets serviced by Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum and  Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited respectively.

According to Indian Oil, aviation turbine fuel will increase by 2 per cent to RS 48,764 per kilo litre from Sunday. The government had freed petrol prices in June this year, but the state-owned firms, which control 98 per cent of the retail market, continue to informally consult the oil ministry before revising prices. The latest hike comes a day after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee admitted that food inflation was unacceptably high.