Fuel prices see fresh hike after more than a month

Fuel prices saw a fresh hike on Thursday morning. This comes after more than a month in the wake of rising international rates and a weakening rupee.

The price of petrol has been hiked by 16 paise per litre while diesel has seen a hike of 12 paise per litre.

The increased price came into effect after an eight-day self-imposed hiatus in rate revisions by state-oil firms in anticipation of softening international rates after the OPEC decision to raise output by 1 million barrels per day.

According to price notification of Indian Oil Corp (IOC), fuel prices in Delhi climbed to Rs 75.71 per litre from Rs 75.55 for petrol and Rs 67.50 a litre from Rs 67.38 for diesel.

State-owned fuel retailers, IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) had not revised petrol and diesel prices since June 26.

Last month, members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), agreed to jointly increase oil production, which was estimated to be about one million barrels a day.

The deal, which came after a week of tense negotiation, was aimed at easing fears of a global supply crunch, reported CNN Money.

This comes after the Centre had already received flak for hike in fuel prices, which kept shooting up for 16 consecutive days to hit a four-year high.

Opposition leaders had attacked the Centre for the inability to bring down fuel prices.

Amid the political mud-slinging, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan blamed the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for the skyrocketing fuel prices.

Apart from political parties, the Centre received a lot of flak from people across the nation for the continuous hike in fuel prices.