Petrol hike fuels anger, another hike soon, India Petrol price high

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New Delhi: The State-owned oil companies increased petrol price by a steep Rs 5 per litre with effect from midnight on Saturday. Hike has been affected to make domestic rates at par with international crude prices which are now at a two and a half year high.The steep hike in petrol price is likely to be followed by a Rs 4 per litre increase in diesel rates and Rs 20-25 per cylinder increase in domestic LPG price later this month.This is the steepest climb in prices announced by state-owned oil companies. The last revision in petrol prices was in January this year. News agency PTI quoted an industry official saying that another hike is on the cards while this latest one has fuelled anger among the commuters.Petrol in Delhi will cost Rs 63.37 per litre at Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) outlets in the national capital from Sunday as against Rs 58.37 a litre currently, an official said.

Even after Saturday's hike, oil companies will continue to lose Rs 5.50 per litre and another increase in price is on cards soon, he said.

Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) on Saturday hiked price by Rs 4.99 per litre and Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) by Rs 5.01 a litre.

Petrol at BPCL outlets currently costs Rs 58.39 per litre and at HPCL pumps Rs 58.38 a litre.

The increase in petrol price, which the oil firms had been holding since January even though crude oil had touched a two-and-a-half-year high, came a day after election results of five state assemblies were announced.

The government had in June last year freed petrol price from its control but oil companies continued to follow 'informal' advice from the oil ministry on rate revision.

The three firms had not raised prices since January in view of assembly elections in states like West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

"The hike needed to make domestic rates at par with international prices was Rs 10.50 per litre but oil companies choose to hike rates by less than half of that," the official said. "Another hike in petrol price is on cards soon," he said.

This is the eighth hike in petrol price since the June 2010 decision. Petrol in Delhi cost Rs 51.43 after the June 26 decision of the government deregulating its price.

The official said hike in petrol price was made necessary because of rising borrowing of oil companies who faced severe working capital shortage in view of losses incurred on fuel sales.

IOC has seen its borrowing rise by Rs 15,000 crore in last 45-days as it loses Rs 296 crore per day on fuel sales.

Besides petrol, it loses Rs 18.19 per litre on diesel, Rs 29.69 a litre on kerosene and Rs 329.73 per 14.2-kg LPG cylinder.

Reacting to the price hike, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "Sonia and her government is to be blamed for such frequent oil price hike. She doesn't realise the pain of the common man. It's a failure of our economist Prime Minister Manmohan Singh."

CPM leader Nilotpal Basu said, "This rise has come immediately after the elections. I am sure the common man is going to protest against this rise in the oil prices and we are going to support this protest against the government."

Cities	Earlier	Now
Delhi	Rs 58.37	Rs 63.37
Kolkata	Rs 62.5	Rs 67.5
Mumbai	Rs 63.08	Rs 68.08
Chennai	Rs 63.36	Rs 68.36

(With additional information from PTI)

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Petrol hike fuels anger, another hike soon, India Petrol price high

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Jammu: Pak troops fire on Indian posts, Latest World News

Jammu: Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged sustained cross-border fire on Sunday, security officials said, a day after an Indian soldier was killed by Pakistani troops while patrolling one of the world's most heavily guarded borders.

In yet another ceasefire violation, Pakistani troops fired on Indian positions in Nikowal forward belt along the International Border (IB) in Jammu sector on Sunday morning.

The two sides exchanged small arms fire for 30 minutes early on Sunday at a border post 30 km (18 miles) from Jammu.

"Pakistani soldiers opened unprovoked firing on our Umra Wali post," said a spokesman for the paramilitary Indian Border Security Force. "We responded to their fire effectively."

A Pakistani border security official confirmed the clash, but denied starting it. Three Pakistani paramilitary soldiers were wounded, he said.

An Indian soldier died in hospital late on Saturday from bullet wounds sustained after Pakistani soldiers opened fire on a routine patrol in the same area, the Indian side said.

He was the first Indian soldier killed by Pakistani troops in a year.

The two nuclear-armed rivals agreed a ceasefire in Kashmir in 2003 and while it has largely held, short exchanges of fire occur almost every month.

The neighbours have fought three wars since 1947, but have been making tentative moves to revive a sluggish peace process that was broken off by India after the 2008 militant assault on the city of Mumbai.

India says Pakistani-backed militants were responsible for the Mumbai attacks.

India accuses its neighbour of funding militant attacks in Kashmir, which both sides claim in full, and has looked to use the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan this month to ratchet up pressure on Pakistan to do more to tackle militancy.

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Jammu: Pak troops fire on Indian posts, Latest World News