New Delhi: The price of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) was on Monday hiked by about Rs2 per cylinder and the kerosene rate by 26 paisa a litre as the government looks to eliminate subsidy on the fuel through small hikes.
The LPG price in Delhi was hiked by Rs1.87 per 14.2-kg cylinder to Rs442.77 per bottle, according to state-owned oil firms. Oil firms had last raised the price of subsidised cooking gas by Rs5.57 to Rs440.90 per 14.2-kg cylinder on 1 April. This hike came as the state-owned oil firms on previous two occasions—1 February and 1 March—did not effect any significant raise in prices in view of assembly elections in states like Uttar Pradesh. Prior to that, they had raised rates by nearly Rs2 per cylinder for eight months in line with a government decision to cut subsidies through calibrated increases every month. Also, the rate of non-subsidised cooking gas was cut by Rs92 per cylinder, in line with international trends.
The reduction comes on back of a Rs14.50 per cylinder cut on 1 April. Non-subsidised LPG is bought by consumers who have either given up their subsidies or exhausted the quota of 12 bottles of the 14.2-kg cylinder in a year at below market price. Subsidised kerosene rate was hiked by Rs0.26 per litre. A litre of kerosene now costs Rs19.55 in Mumbai. The government is looking at eliminating subsidy on kerosene through a small 25 paisa increase every month. Also, the price of jet fuel or ATF was cut by a marginal 0.4 per cent to Rs51,696 per kilolitre. This reduction comes on back of a 5.1% cut effected from 1 April, oil companies said.
Oil firms revise rates of ATF and cooking fuel on the first of every month based on oil prices and foreign exchange rates in the preceding month.