Fuel prices maintain upwards trajectory across country

Reuters File Photo

New Delhi: Saturday saw yet another rise in the prices of petrol and diesel in the country with the former now selling at Rs 82.66 per litre in the national capital. Diesel is at Rs 75.19 per litre here.

The prices of petrol increased by 18 paise from Friday's rates with the fuel in Mumbai now at Rs 88.12 for every litre. Here, diesel prices went up by 31 paise and was at 78.82.

Fuel prices maintain an upward trajectory despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi holding a review meeting with finance minister Arun Jaitley and oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday. "The PM's meeting in the morning (of Thursday) was on petroleum issues. The discussion centred around increasing domestic oil production, subsidy borne by oil marketing companies (OMCs) and reducing oil imports to cut down the current account deficit," a senior official was quoted as saying by news agency IANS.

With US sanctions on Iran looming large, tougher days could be ahead because India is Tehran's second-largest oil buyer. And while the Trump administration has assured that allies would not be shortchanged, there have also been warnings galore about doing business with Iran.

The central government in India has maintained that fuel price hikes are because of international factors and with all indications pointing towards India significantly reducing imports from Iran before first week of November, when Washington's sanctions kick in against Tehran, supply of oil could become a sticky affair. Meanwhile, a widespread demand for bringing fuel prices under GST has largely been confined to the sidelines by the central government.