The price of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) by Re 1 per kg across Delhi-NCR on Sunday, a day after a 10 paisa per kg hike. The CNG prices were hiked by ₹2 on Friday.
The latest revision of CNG price in Delhi is ₹80.09 per kg, while in Noida and Ghaziabad, consumers have to pay ₹88.70 per kg of CNG.
This is the latest hike in Rs 1 per kg, effective immediately as prices of fuels remain under pressure on account of ongoing conflict in West.
Adding to this, lakhs of cab operators, autorickshaws and commercial transport operators are relying on CNG in the NCR and this extra increase will add to the stress on the costs of public transport. Delhi-NCR also has several private vehicle owners who are using CNG.
The price of CNG rose by Rs 84 per kg in Mumbai on Friday, with prices being raised by Rs 2 per kg.
Fuel price hike due to Iran war
The petrol and diesel prices too saw a hike for the first time in over four years on Friday, in the wake of the Iran war, which has seen global crude prices spike. Prices of petrol and diesel have risen since then and are now the highest since May 2022.
Retail fuel prices were maintained at two-year-old levels, despite the surge, as the government said it was trying to protect “price sensitive consumers” from higher global energy costs.
Prices of crude oil have risen by over 50 per cent since US-Israeli assaults on Iran on February 28 and Tehran’s response led to a disruption of the flows through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route for world oil supplies.
The price increase seems to be “calibrated”, a PTI report quoting industry sources said. “Eaten” by the oil companies is unlikely to cause a big inflationary shock but would relieve some margin pressure. The increase, however, will have some impact on inflation, they said.
Retail inflation in India increased to 3.48 per cent in April as fuel and energy costs continued to climb, PTI reported, quoting officials from the government’s statistics office.India’s retail inflation rose to 42-month high of 8.3 per cent in April, mainly due to higher fuel and energy prices, PTI reported, quoting officials from the government statistics office.
The indirect effect is generally more widespread for petrol and diesel fuels, as they tend to increase the cost of freight, logistics and inputs in other sectors.
The rates of natural gas piped into household kitchens for cooking purposes (piped natural gas) and domestic cooking gas LPG were unchanged despite the high of global crude prices.
PM Modi urges to conserve fuel.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this week had pleaded people to conserve fuel and also work from home and curtail travel, as of late the rising fuel prices put pressure on India’s foreign exchange reserves and risk the current account deficit widening for the third consecutive year.
Some State governments have already directed their departments to restrict travel, reduce in-person meetings and staff office presence.
OMCs suffered a loss of ₹13-14K crore daily
PTI reported that the price increase is “small” in comparison to what crude oil prices have gone up, and that this increase is still causing retailers to lose money.
The losses incurred by oil marketing companies on petrol and diesel were at their maximum at ₹23-30 a litre, which translates to a combined loss of ₹1,300-1,400 crore per day, Crisil said.
As a result of government’s excise duty relief and the latest hike, the under-recoveries have been cut down to nearly ₹10 per litre for petrol and near ₹13 per litre for diesel, according to Crisil estimates, but the cumulative losses since the beginning of the conflict would be more than ₹1 lakh crore by the end of May.
(With agency inputs)