Indian oil companies have announced a hike in prices of petrol and diesel by 75 paise and 50 paise per liter, respectively, from June 1, 2013. Indian Oil Corp had announced a hike in prices of petrol and diesel due to a sharp decline in the Indian rupee.
The rupee has been hit with a ten-month low making oil imports costlier for oil marketing companies. As the international oil prices have softened, the rupee has depreciated against the US currency to Rs. 56.50 per dollar, which is about Rs. 2 lower than the rate at last revision in March 2013. Last time prices of petrol were hiked on March 1, 2013 and since then, petrol prices have been cut four times due to falling global oil prices.
On May 1, 2013, prices of petrol were cut by Rs. 3 per liter, Rs. 1.20 on April 16, 2013, Rs. 1 on April 1, 2013 and Rs. 2.40 on March 16, 2013. When it comes to diesel, prices were hiked on May 11, 2013 by 90 paise per liter, after companies skipped raising rates in April 2013, to avoid troubles for the government during the Budget session of Parliament.
