News Hour: Petrol price reduced by 85 paise per litre; effective cut in Delhi Rs 1.02 per litre

Oil companies will reduce petrol rates by Re 1.02 a litre because benchmark international oil prices have dropped, which has also trimmed their revenue losses on diesel by more than Rs 2 a litre.

"We have decided to cut petrol prices by 85 paise without tax," an Indian OilBSE -0.09 % executive told ET. Effectively petrol will be Rs 1.02 per litre cheaper in Delhi pumps.

This will be the second petrol price cut since March 15 when state oil firms reduced the fuel price by Rs 2.40 per litre citing about $5.3 a barrel fall in global crude oil rates.

There is about $1.5 per barrel gain in the average crude oil imported by domestic refiners. Even international petrol rates have also dropped by about $2 per barrel.

With almost stable rupee-dollar exchange rate, it was expected that oil-marketing companies would reduce petrol prices soon, officials in the oil ministry said requesting anonymity.

Indian Oil, Bharat PetroleumBSE -0.28 % and Hindustan PetroleumBSE -0.74 % generally align pump prices of petrol with international rates on fortnightly basis.

Petrol is a deregulated fuel and its pricing decision is prerogative of oil companies but they take tacit approval of the oil ministry before revising the fuel.

Cities	Current Price	Revised Price	Decrease
Delhi	68.31	67.29	1.02
Kolkata	75.79	74.72	1.07
Mumbai	75.21	74.14	1.07
Chennai	71.42	70.34	1.08

(source: economictimes.indiatimes.com)