By PTI
New Delhi: The government may cut petrol, diesel and domestic LPG prices on Thursday, besides freeing fuel pricing from administrative control, a petroleum ministry official said today.
The Cabinet, scheduled to meet on Thursday, may reduce petrol price by Rs5 a litre, diesel by Rs3 per litre and domestic LPG by Rs25 per cylinder, giving relief to the common man and further easing inflationary pressures, he said.
State-run oil companies are currently making Rs9.70 a litre profit on sale of petrol, Rs3.70 a litre on diesel, but are loosing Rs 31.70 per LPG cylinder and Rs 11.69 on every litre of kerosene.
“There is also a proposal for freeing the retail fuel prices from administrative control after a mechanism to compensate for the losses on LPG and kerosene is devised,” he said.
The government will mop up additional revenues by increasing excise duty on petrol and diesel by a minimum of Rs1 per litre.
For losses on LPG and kerosene, the Cabinet may decide on issuing a Rs 30,000-crore additional oil bonds this fiscal.
Petrol and diesel prices were cut only in December by Rs5 a litre and Rs2 per litre, respectively, as global crude prices fell to four-year lows.
International oil prices have been hovering at that level for a while and have prompted the government to think of another round of price reduction.