Govt raises petrol, diesel prices by ₹3 per litre; CNG price rises by ₹2 per kg

The oil marketing companies (OMCs) have raised the retail prices of petrol and diesel by around ₹3 per litre and compressed natural gas (CNG) by ₹2 per kg.

The hike in retail prices of transport fuels reflects the losses being incurred by OMCs and comes within days of the conclusion of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Kerala.

With the latest hike, the retail prices of petrol and diesel will now be sold at ₹97.77 and ₹90.67 per litre, respectively, in the national capital.

In Kolkata and Chennai, petrol prices will be ₹108.74 and ₹103.67, higher by ₹3.29 and ₹2.87, respectively, from ₹105.45 and ₹100.80. Similarly, diesel prices in these cities stand at ₹95.13 and ₹95.25, higher by ₹3.11 and ₹2.86 per litre, respectively.

The PSU OMCs — Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) — have been losing around ₹20 per litre on the sale of petrol and around ₹100 per litre on diesel sales due to high oil prices and unchanged retail prices in India.

The retail prices of petrol and diesel had been unchanged since March 2024. They were last reduced by ₹2 per litre ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. Effectively, the prices have been raised for the first time after April 2022.

Technically, fuel prices have been deregulated and oil marketing companies can revise prices daily on the basis of the fortnightly average of crude oil prices. Given the politically sensitive nature of the commodity, they remain largely unchanged.

According to a recent estimate by ratings agency ICRA, if crude prices remain in the range of $120-125 per barrel, marketing margins on sale of petrol would move into negative territory: they would lose ₹14 a litre on petrol and ₹18 on each litre of diesel.

Marketing margin represents the difference between the purchase cost and the final sale price, directly affecting profitability for OMCs.

Although OMCs are currently facing losses or under-recovery, they also profited when global crude prices were largely subdued in the past couple of years, and retail fuel prices remained largely stagnant.

Published on May 15, 2026