There will be no immediate price hike in petroleum products, despite sharp increase in crude oil prices in world markets. The Government has turned down a request by the Indian Petroleum Company (IOC) seeking permission to increase prices of petrol and diesel. Instead, the Government has taken a decision to reduce custom duty levied on petrol with immediate effect.
Accordingly, the Finance Ministry slashed custom duty levied on a liter of petrol by Rs. 10, with effect from January 10, 2011. The reduction would bring down the custom duty per liter from Rs.15 to Rs. 5, which would cushion the losses incurred by the IOC and the CPC following the recent price hike of petrol in the global markets.