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Business News/ News / India/ Petrol, diesel price: No cut for a month due to slump in sales during lockdown

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Petrol, diesel price: No cut for a month due to slump in sales during lockdown

1 min read 15 Apr 2020, 08:57 AM IST Nikhil Agarwal

Petrol and diesel prices have been left uncut for the last 30 days
Fuel demand is unlikely to improve during lockdown 2.0 which began from today

A worker pastes a notice that reads 'No Mask No Petrol' at a petrol pump after authorities made it mandatory for the people to wear mask while stepping out of their homes, during ongoing COVID-19 lockdown, in Kolkata. (PTI) — A worker pastes a notice that reads 'No Mask No Petrol' at a petrol pump after authorities made it mandatory for the people to wear mask while stepping out of their homes, during ongoing COVID-19 lockdown, in Kolkata. **(PTI)**

NEW DELHI : With the extension of the coronavirus lockdown by another three weeks to May 3, the demand for petrol and diesel is unlikely to recover in India. Faced with inventory losses, state-run fuel retailers have left petrol and diesel prices unchanged for 30 days in a row even as crude oil futures were trading below the $30 a barrel mark today.

On the contrary, states like Maharashtra, Karnataka and West Bengal, saw a price hike of Re 1 to ₹1.5 a litre due to a hike in VAT by the state governments from April 1. The central government had also raised excise duty on the two auto fuels by ₹3 a litre each but the resultant hike in prices was absorbed by falling crude oil rates.

State-run fuel retailers, which control most of the petrol pumps in India, have been struggling with a slump in fuel demand even before the nationwide lockdown began. According to market reports, demand for fuel has now fallen by as much as 70% as most industries and transport services are shut and vehicular traffic is limited to either essential or emergency services.

At several districts, petrol pump owners have been directed to not sell fuel to those not wearing masks while in other places only essential services are being allowed to fuel their vehicles.

In Delhi, a litre of petrol is priced at ₹69.59 per litre and diesel at ₹62.29 per litre today. In Mumbai, petrol is selling at ₹76.31 per litre and diesel at ₹66.21 per litre. In Chennai, a litre of petrol will cost ₹72.28 per litre whereas diesel is now priced at ₹65.71 per litre.

In Bengaluru, petrol is now selling at ₹73.55 and diesel at ₹65.96. In Hyderabad, petrol pumps are charging ₹73.97 for petrol and ₹67.82 for diesel. If you are in Gurgaon, you will have to shell out ₹70.21 for petrol and ₹62.08 for diesel. In Kolkata, petrol pumps are charging ₹73.30 for petrol and ₹65.62 for diesel.

In the international oil market, Brent futures fell 6.7% yesterday over worries that the quantum of production cut would not be sufficient enough to offset plunging fuel demand due to the coronavirus pandemic. Brent was trading 38 cents, or 1.3% up, at $29.98 a barrel today.