Jio-bp raises petrol price by ₹5 per litre, diesel up ₹3

Summary

While other fuel retailers have raised prices following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, this is the first time Jio-bp has raised prices this year.

Reliance Industries-backed Jio-bp has raised prices of petrol and diesel by ₹5 and ₹3 per litre, respectively, four people familiar with the development, including fuel pump dealers, said.

Following the increase, effective Sunday, petrol is being sold around ₹108.54 per litre and diesel at ₹99.19 a litre in Punjab, fuel retailers said. In Haryana, Jio-bp pumps are selling petrol at around ₹109.80 per litre and diesel at ₹97.75 a litre.

Jio-bp is the second fuel retailer in the country to raise prices in the last 10 days. Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy raised petrol and diesel prices by ₹5 and ₹3 per litre, respectively, on 3 October, as reported by the Press Trust of India. Reliance and Nayara are also key exporters of petroleum products.

While other fuel retailers have raised prices following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, this is the first time Jio-bp has raised prices this year.

Fuel sales restrictions

Jio-bp imposed a cap of 50 litres per transaction on diesel sales in September. "With this increase, the cap may become irrelevant as customers will move to other retailers," said a fuel retailer in Punjab on the condition of anonymity.

Neeraj Mittal, secretary to the Union ministry of petroleum and natural gas, had said on 1 October that the government would raise the recent diesel sales restrictions with private refiners and ask them to roll back the measures.

Jio-bp, which accounts for about a fifth of India's 99,400 privately operated fuel pumps, had earlier restricted diesel sales and imposed procurement quotas for its pumps in April.

State-run oil marketing companies (OMCs), which account for 90% of the country's fuel pumps, had also introduced rationing measures amid the West Asia war. These included advance payments by fuel pumps, a cap of 200 litres on diesel sales, longer booking timelines for domestic cooking gas, and reduced allocations of LPG and natural gas for industrial purposes.

Crude price concerns

However, the latest escalation of the West Asia conflict, involving the US and Iran and the Houthis in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, has renewed concerns about volatility in crude oil prices.

Crude oil imports, which comprise up to 25% of the total import bill, have also added to the rise in the country's import bill. As of July, India's crude import bill this fiscal year has reached $74.85 billion, up 48% from a year earlier, accounting for about 60% of the total oil import bill of $123 billion for the previous fiscal year.

India, which imports about 90% of its crude oil, remains particularly exposed to sustained price increases. Estimates by Bank of Baroda show that a persistent $1 increase in crude prices can raise the country's annual import bill by around ₹18,000 crore.

Queries mailed to Jio-bp and Reliance Industries on Sunday afternoon were not immediately answered.