ATF price cut by 11.3%, to cost less than diesel
The price of jet fuel in Delhi cut by `5,909.9 per kilolitre, or 11.27%, to `46,513.02 per kl
New Delhi: Jet fuel price was on Sunday cut by a steep 11.3% and now costs less than diesel.
Last month, its rate had fallen below the price at which petrol is sold. While petrol and diesel prices have so far not been changed as per the fortnightly revision, non-subsidised domestic cooking gas (LPG) was cut by ₹ 103.5 per cylinder to ₹ 605 a cylinder after international oil prices slumped to near six-year lows.
The price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), or jet fuel, in Delhi was cut by ₹ 5,909.9 per kilolitre, or 11.27%, to ₹ 46,513.02 per kl, oil companies announced on Sunday. The reduction, which followed possibly the steepest ever cut of ₹ 7,520.52 per kl or 12.5% effected from 1 January, has led to ATF becoming cheaper than even diesel.
Last month’s reduction saw the ATF price slip to ₹ 52.42 a litre, below ₹ 58.91 a litre cost of petrol in Delhi. And after Sunday’s cut it costs ₹ 46.51 per litre and is cheaper than diesel that sells at ₹ 51.52 per litre.
ATF has a higher octane than petrol and diesel is a heavier fraction in the distillation process. Traditionally, auto fuels being of lesser quality than ATF, would cost less. But four consecutive excise duty hikes since November—totalling ₹ 7.75 a litre on petrol and ₹ 7.50 on diesel, have reversed this.
But for these, the cumulative reduction of ₹ 14.69 per litre in petrol price in nine cuts since August and ₹ 10.71 a litre on diesel since its deregulation in October, would have been higher. ATF attracts an excise duty of 8%. The cut, effective Sunday, is the seventh reduction in jet fuel rates since August. Jet fuel constitutes over 40% of an airline’s operating costs and the price cut will ease the financial burden of cash-strapped carriers. No immediate comment was available from airlines on the impact of the price cut on passenger fares.
Following the global trend, the price of 14.2-kg non- subsidised LPG cylinder had been cut to ₹ 605 from ₹ 708.50 previously in Delhi. This is the seventh straight reduction in rates of non-subsidised or market-priced LPG, which the customers buy after exhausting their quota of 12 cylinders at subsidised rates, since August.
A subsidised LPG refill currently costs ₹ 417 in Delhi. Price of non-subsidised LPG were last cut on 1 January by ₹ 43.50. In seven monthly reductions, non-domestic LPG rates have been slashed by ₹ 317.50 per cylinder, bringing the price to a three-year low.
State-owned fuel retailers, Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL) revise jet fuel and non-subsidised LPG prices on 1st of every month based on average imported cost and rupee-USD exchange rate.
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First Published:1 Feb 2015, 08:22 PM IST
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