Fuel prices to be revised every day

Petrol and diesel prices will be revised daily in line with global rates in five cities across the country from May 1, 2017, according to a PTI report. The move, aimed at mitigating the big jump in rates at the end of the fortnight and better aligning fuel prices to the market dynamics, will be implemented as a pilot run before being rolled out nationwide.

Oil marketing companies such as Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, which own over 95 per cent of nearly 58,000 petrol pumps in the country, will launch the daily price revision in Puducherry, Vishakapatnam, Udaipur, Jamshedpur and Chandigarh in the pilot phase.

"It is technically possible to change rates daily, but we have to first do a pilot. Once the pilot is done and its implications are studied, we will extend it to other parts of the country. Ultimately, we will be driving towards market-linked rates on a daily basis at all pumps across the country," the PTI report quoted IOC chairman B. Ashok as saying.

According to reports, the practice of revising petrol and diesel prices daily is currently followed in the US and Japan, while rates are changed weekly in Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and the UK.

Petrol and diesel prices are currently revised by the state-owned oil marketing companies 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.