State-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) Friday hiked petrol price 0.70 a litre effective midnight tonight, while other PSU oil retailers are likely to follow suit in next couple of days.
"Petrol price in Delhi was raised by Rs 0.70 per litre to Rs 52.55 per litre," a company official said.
Rate in other cities will vary depending on local taxes and levies.
Industry sources said Indian Oil Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation are likely to follow suit over the weekend.
The three oil companies no longer revise petrol prices in tandem to avoid being accused of acting as a cartel. The three companies also do not have a uniform price for petrol with IOC selling the fuel three paise cheaper than BPCL. Petrol at HPCL is 1 paise cheaper than BPCL.
Sources said the three companies are losing about Rs 1 per litre on petrol after international oil prices rose to over 80 dollar per barrel this month.
The government has in June freed petrol pricing from its administrative control allowing the state companies to fix rates in line with cost of production.
This is the second increase in petrol prices since June this year.
PTI
