State oil refiners reap benefits of unrevised retail prices

Higher margin on petrol and diesel, with rupee rising and global crude price being steady

The three state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) are likely to reap benefits of the lack of a price change in the past four fortnights. This is despite the Indian basket of crude oil prices declining by a little more than nine per cent in the previous fortnight itself, from $54.93 a barrel on March 1 to $49.72 on March 14.
 
According to industry experts, as on March 15, the over recovery on diesel was Rs 1.12 a litre; for petrol, Rs 1.61 a litre.
 
“With petrol unchanged at Rs 71.14 a litre, companies will earn a normalised marketing