Cooking gas, jet fuel prices hiked

Cooking gas (LPG) price was today hiked by Rs 4.50 per cylinder, the 19th increase in rates since July 2016 when the government decided to eliminate subsidy on it by raising prices every month.

Also, jet fuel or ATF price was increased by 2 per cent on firming international rates, the fourth straight increase in rates since August, according to price notification posted by state-owned retailers.

The price of non-subsidised LPG or market priced cooking gas has been hiked by Rs 93 to Rs 742 per bottle. At the last revision on October 1 the rate was hiked by Rs 50 to Rs 649 per bottle.

Subsidised LPG price has been hiked by Rs 4.50 per 14.2- kg cylinder to Rs 495.69.

The government last year had asked state-run oil firms to raise prices every month to eliminate all the subsidies by March next year.

Since the implementation of the policy of monthly increases from July last year, subsidised LPG rates have gone up by Rs 76.51 per cylinder. A 14.2-kg LPG cylinder was priced at Rs 419.18 in June 2016.

Every household is entitled to 12 cylinders of 14.2-kg each at subsidised rates in a year. Any requirement beyond that is to be purchased at market price.

Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) will now cost Rs 54,143 per kilolitre (kl) in Delhi, Rs 1,098 per kl more than Rs 53,045 previously, oil companies said.

This is the fourth consecutive monthly hike in ATF price, the last being 6 per cent (Rs 3,025 per kl) on October 1.

State-owned oil firms revise rates of LPG and ATF on 1st of every month based on average oil price and foreign exchange rate in the previous month.

Initially, the hike in LPG rate was Rs 2 per month which was doubled to Rs 3 from May this year. Today's hike in the LPG price is sixth since the May 30 order of the oil ministry to raise rates by Rs 4 per cylinder every month.

There are as many as 18.11 crore customers of subsidised LPG in the country. These include over 3 crore poor women who were given free connections during the last one year under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna.

There are 2.66 crore users of non-subsidised cooking gas.