Ahead of the announcement of the Lok Sabha election schedule, the Centre on Thursday slashed prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 2 per litre.
With the recent cuts in liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and compressed natural gas (CNG) prices, speculation was rife that a reduction in petrol and diesel prices may be in the offing in view of the impending Lok Sabha polls.
In a post on X, Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, “By reducing the prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 2, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has once again proved that the welfare and convenience of his family of crores of Indians is always his goal.”
He added that despite the biggest oil crisis, “petrol prices in India decreased by 4.65 per cent in the last two and a half years.”
On an average, the price of petrol was Rs 94 per litre, while the price of diesel was Rs 87 per litre as on March 14, the minister said.
On the occasion of International Women’s Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced a cut of Rs 100 per cylinder in cooking gas prices. The price reduction, is set to benefit nearly 33 crore households that use liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as cooking fuel.
Last week, Puri had said that a reduction in retail prices of petrol and diesel is a decision that would have to be thought through “very coolly” by public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) in view of the volatility in the global energy market, geopolitical challenges, and the companies’ financial health.
Indicating that the OMCs are not fully out of the woods yet in terms of profitability on fuel sales, Puri said that they are still incurring under-recoveries on diesel sales, but did not quantify it.
