Oil marketing companies (OMCs) have cut petrol and diesel costs with effect from August 1, 2015. The decrease in retail selling price of petrol is by Rs 2.43 per litre and by Rs 3.60 per litre for diesel. Currently, the cost of petrol is at Rs 64.47 per litre and the cost of diesel is Rs 46.12 per litre.
This is the third and consecutive price cut within a month in India. The last price cut in India was recorded on 16 July 2015, and there has since been a decrease in the international prices of both petrol and diesel.
The price of petrol first dropped on July 1 by Rs 0.31 a litre and the cost of diesel fell by Rs 0.71 per litre. The cost of fuel further fell on July 16 by Rs 2 per litre across the country. However motorists in Delhi did not benefit from this price cut as the state government increased the value added tax structure on the fuel there. If this structure had remained unchanged, the final retail price of petrol would have witnessed a drop, not an increase. The cost of diesel went down, as the VAT levied on it was not as high.
Petrol and diesel prices are generally revised by the state-owned OMCs on the 1st and 16th of every month, depending on the movement of fuel prices in the international market, as well as the rupee-dollar exchange rate of the previous fortnight.