2015 Petrol Price Revision Friday Jan 16,2015

Petrol price cut by Rs 2.42/litre, diesel Rs 2.25/litre

Petrol price was today cut by Rs 2.42 per litre and diesel by Rs 2.25 a litre after an excise duty hike limited the benefit of global crude prices slumping to six-year low.

The reduction would have been almost double but for the government also raising excise duty by Rs 2 per litre on both petrol and diesel on Friday Jan 16,2015

Petrol and diesel prices were last cut on December 16,2014  by Rs 2 per litre each.

This is the 9th straight reduction in petrol prices since August 2014, and 5th in diesel since October2014.

Including Friday's reduction, petrol price have been cut by Rs 14.69 per litre on a cumulative basis since August 2014, while diesel rates in five downward revisions have been slashed by a total of Rs 10.71 a litre

New rates will be effective midnight tonight, Indian Oil Corp, the nation's largest fuel retailer, announced

This is the 4th hike in excise duty since November 2014 and cumulatively customers have been denied the benefit of Rs 7.75 per litre reduction in petrol and Rs 6.50 a litre cut in diesel rates that was warranted due to the slump in oil price to USD 46 per barrel.

A Finance Ministry notification said the excise duty on unbranded petrol is being hiked to Rs 8.95 per litre and that on unbranded diesel to Rs 7.96 per litre. 

The four excise duty hikes will result in about Rs 20,000 crore in additional revenue this fiscal and will help the government meet its fiscal deficit target of 4.1 per cent of the GDP.