Petrol Rises Rs1.20 Per Litre, Diesel Price Falls Re0.17

The federal government has raised the price of petrol by Rs1.20 per litre while reducing the price of high-speed diesel by Re0.17 per litre. The revised rates will take effect on Thursday, October 15. Petrol will be sold at Rs393.86 per litre, while high-speed diesel will cost Rs396.65 per litre.

The new rates were notified by the Petroleum Division under the government’s petroleum-pricing mechanism. Before the change, petrol was priced at Rs392.66 per litre and high-speed diesel at Rs396.82 per litre. The adjustment therefore moves the two major transport fuels in different directions for the new pricing period.

The government continues to collect Rs114 per litre in taxes and duties on petrol and Rs100 per litre on diesel. The announcement sets out the retail prices and the applicable levies but does not change the stated tax-and-duty amounts for the two products.

Petrol is widely used by private vehicles, motorcycles, rickshaws and other smaller forms of transport. A change in its retail price can therefore affect household transport costs, particularly for middle-income and lower-middle-income consumers who rely on these vehicles for daily travel.

High-speed diesel is used in heavy transport, power plants and large generators. Its price movements can affect freight and operating costs across sectors that depend on diesel-powered vehicles and equipment. The reduction of Re0.17 per litre is smaller than the increase announced for petrol.

The price change comes after both products had recently been revised downwards. Petrol had been reduced by Rs2.71 per litre to Rs392.66, while the diesel rate was lowered by Re0.03 to Rs396.82. The new announcement partly reverses the earlier petrol reduction while making a marginal further cut to the diesel rate.

The government has linked recent fuel-price pressure to international oil-market conditions amid the ongoing Middle East conflict. It has also reinstated austerity measures in response to higher fuel costs, including a 9pm market-closing requirement and a 50 percent reduction in official-vehicle fuel allocations for three months.

Fuel prices are being set daily on the basis of international market movements after the responsibility for deciding the rates was assigned to the regulator. The current retail-price revision is applicable from October 15, with petrol at Rs393.86 per litre and high-speed diesel at Rs396.65 per litre.