Govt jacks up prices of POL products

The government on Tuesday jacked up the prices of petroleum products by up to Rs5 per litre effective from December 16 (Wednesday), following fluctuation in global oil prices. The new prices will remain intact till December 31, 2020.

On Monday, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) had sent a summary to the Petroleum Division in which it had proposed an increase of Rs7 per litre in the price of diesel and Rs5 per litre for petrol.

However, the government increased the price of petrol by Rs3 per litre to Rs103.69 per litre from Rs100.69 per litre. Demand for petrol is expected to increase due to the shortage of Compressed Natural Gas in winter.

The government also raised the price of high speed diesel (HSD) by Rs3.01 per litre to Rs108.44 per litre as compared with Rs105.43 per litre.

The HSD is used in transport and agriculture sectors. Therefore, increase in its price would have an inflationary impact on the masses as it is widely used.

The government has also increased the price of kerosene by Rs5 per litre to Rs70.29 per litre as against Rs65.29 per litre. Kerosene is used in remote areas like the northern parts of the country for cooking purposes where Liquefied Petroleum Gas or Sui gas is not available.

The government has also increased the price of light diesel oil (LDO) by 2 per litre to Rs67.86 per litre as compared with Rs65.86 per litre. LDO is used for industrial purposes.

Earlier, government had increased price of high speed diesel by Rs4 per litre. However, it had maintained the prices of other petroleum products effective from December 1, 2020.

The finance ministry in a statement said that new prices of petroleum products would be as MS (Petrol) Rs103.69 per litre, HSD Rs108.44 per litre, Kerosene Oil (SKO) Rs70.29 per litre and LDO Rs67.86 per litre.