Petrol and diesel prices held steady on August 5, the latest price notification issued by fuel retailers showed. Fuel prices have stayed unchanged for more than a month.
Petrol in Mumbai is being sold for Rs 106.31 per litre and diesel for Rs 94.27. Petrol in Delhi costs Rs 96.72 and diesel Rs 89.62 a litre. Petrol and diesel are priced at Rs 102.63 and Rs 94.24 in Chennai and at Rs 106.03 and Rs 92.76 in Kolkata respectively.
Oil marketing companies are reportedly incurring a loss of Rs 13.08 a litre on petrol and Rs 24.09 on diesel. India meets 80 percent of its fuel needs through imports.
Oil prices extended losses on Friday, after hitting their lowest since before Russia's February invasion of Ukraine in the previous session, as the market fretted over the impact of inflation on global economic growth and demand.
Brent crude dropped 10 cents, or 0.1%, to $94.02 a barrel by 0047 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $88.48 a barrel, down 6 cents.
"Crude oil fell further on demand concerns on a cloudy economic outlook," CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng said. "If commodities are not pricing in an imminent economic recession, they might be preparing for a 'stagflation' era when the unemployment rate starts picking up and inflation stays high."
Windfall tax hiked on petroleum crude, lowered on diesel, ATF exports
The windfall tax has been raised on petroleum crude, and slashed on the exports of diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF), as per a government notification.
The export tax on petroleum crude has been increased from Rs 17,000 to Rs 17,750 per tonne, the notification stated.
The windfall tax on diesel has been reduced from Rs 11 to Rs 5 per litre, whereas it has been waived off on the export of ATF. Before the revision order was issued, ATF exports were taxed at Rs 4 per litre.
The government has also decided to maintain nil duty on the export of petrol.
MGL hikes CNG price by Rs 6 per kg, PNG by Rs 4 a unit
Within a month, city gas distributor Mahanagar Gas Ltd (MGL) has announced the second price hike of Rs 6 per kilogram for CNG and by Rs 4 a unit for piped natural gas (PNG) with immediate effect.
The price revision comes amidst rising prices of the natural gas at source both internationally as well as for domestically drilled gas. Rising prices have forced suppliers and distributors to cut down on industrial supplies since the past many weeks.
This is the sixth price hike since April this year. "Due to the significant increase in input gas cost, we have decided to recover the cost. Accordingly, we've increased the retail price of CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) to Rs 86 (per kilogram) and domestic PNG (Piped Natural Gas) by Rs 4/SCM (standard cubic meter) to Rs 52.50 in and around Mumbai, effective from this midnight," MGL said in a statement.