Petrol, diesel to cost more

Petrol price will be hiked by 30 paise per litre and diesel rate by 18 paise a litre after government decided to increase the commission paid to petrol pump dealers.

The Petroleum Ministry on Thursday decided to increase the dealer commission on petrol from Rs 1.499 per litre to Rs 1.799 a litre.

The same on diesel has been hiked from 91 paise to Rs 1.09 a litre, official sources said.

They said the hike would be effective either on Thursday or from Friday, depending on when the ministry issues a formal letter to oil companies.

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Petrol is currently priced at Rs 67.90 per litre in Delhi and diesel Rs 46.95. After the hike, petrol will cost Rs 68.2 per litre and diesel Rs 47.13 a litre.

The increase in dealer commission is the first since July 2011. In July, the commission was hiked by 28 paise on petrol and by 15.5 paise on diesel.

Federation of All India Petroleum Traders general secretary Ajay Bansal said the hike is short of their demand of 67 paise increase in commission on petrol and 42 paise on diesel, considering steep hike in operating cost of a petrol pump.

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"A few of our operating costs like running pumps on generators, free services (like air and water) and increase in evaporation, seem to have not been taken into account while calculating the proposed commission," he said.

The ministry, he said, has assured to look into these in two months time.

The government had earlier this month hiked commission paid to liquefied petroleum gas distributors by Rs 11.42 per cylinder.

Subsidised LPG in Delhi now cost Rs 410.42 per cylinder, up from Rs 399.

The increase in commission paid to LPG dealers from Rs 25.83 per 14.2-kg cylinder to Rs 37.25 was effected from October 7.