Govt slashes petrol, diesel prices by Rs 2 per litre ahead of LS polls
March 14, 2024
New Delhi, March 14: Ahead of the announcement of the Lok Sabha election schedule, the government on Thursday slashed prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 2 per litre.
The new price will be come into effect from 6:00am of Friday morning.
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.
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.
Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, last week, had said 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. (IE)