NEW DELHI: The government has not asked state-owned oil firms so far to avoid raising the retail price of petrol and diesel in view of next month's elections in Karnataka, heads of IOC and HPCL said today.The government was said to have informally directed state-owned fuel retailers not to raise petrol and diesel prices in the run-up to the December 2017 assembly elections in Gujarat. By some accounts, as much as 45 paisa increase warranted in petrol and diesel rates was not passed on.This time around Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd ( BPCL ) have reportedly been asked to absorb up to Re 1 a litre hike. HPCL lost as much 8.3 per cent.The government had in June 2010 freed petrol price from its control and the diesel rates were deregulated in October 2014. Petrol price continues to cost Rs 73.98 a litre in Delhi, the highest in four years, while diesel rate continues to rule at record levels of Rs 64.96.After hitting a low of USD 27.1 per barrel in 2016, Brent crude is currently trading around USD 70 level. Because of the reduction in excise duty, diesel prices had on October 4, 2017 come down to Rs 56.89 per litre and petrol to Rs 68.38 per litre.However, a global rally in crude prices pushed domestic fuel prices far higher than those levels.

Source: Economic Times April 11, 2018 13:41 UTC