The common man does not really recall a single day in the past few years when the government took a decision regarding the fuel prices in the country and they went in his favour. There’s no respite for the common man and on the 18th of January, the Indian Government has partially de-controlled the diesel fuel prices and the country which in common terms means a hike in the diesel prices.
The state-run oil companies which claim to run into losses as the diesel prices are controlled by the government seem to have had a breather from this decision. The diesel prices will be hiked every now and then by the companies by a small margin to cope up with the mounting losses. To a certain extent, the diesel prices would be controlled by the crude oil prices in the international market.
The hike which has been introduced is Rs.0.45 which is excluding VAT. It would translate into a hike of somewhere around Rs.0.50 depending upon every state’s VAT rules. The diesel prices now stand for Delhi at Rs 47.65 per litre, Rs 53.71 for Mumbai, Rs 51.51 for Kolkata and Rs 50.68 for the city of Chennai. The prices are bound to go up every month from here on as some reports suggest a phased hike of Rs.10 before 2013 ends.
The parity between the petrol and diesel prices id Rs.21 as of now and the partial de-control being brought into play, this disparity is bound to reduce over a period of time. If you thought that you had a petrol car and you need not worry about the hike, think again. Every transportation activity which brings your daily needs items to the local store near your house runs on diesel. So if the transportation costs increase, so will the costs of your daily needs products.
And now another important aspect. So do you buy a diesel or a petrol? The diesel cars cost Rs.1-1.5 lakh over the corresponding petrol hearted motors and have higher maintenance costs. Also the parity between the fuel prices will decrease over the period of time. As a result, if you’ve got a run of more than 3000-3500 kilometers a month, only then will a diesel car make sense. And the petrol cars will surely see a boost in their sales figures.
Also read- Updates on Petrol and Diesel Prices in India
