Petrol in India costs more than neighbouring Pakistan and Sri lanka but is cheaper than Bangladesh and Nepal, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday. Petrol price of Rs63.16 per litre in Delhi is more than Rs44.05 per litre rate of the fuel in Pakistan and Rs54.75 in Sri lanka. However, it is cheaper than Rs 76.97 per litre price in Bangladesh and Rs68.13 a litre in Nepal.
Diesel at Rs49.57 per litre in Delhi is however cheaper than all neighbouring nations except Sri lanka, where it costs Rs44.29 for a litre, he said in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha. A litre of diesel in Pakistan costs Rs51.15, Rs54.27 in Bangladesh and Rs54.27 in Nepal. Nepal sources all its auto fuel needs from India. India had on four occasions between November 2014 and January 2015 raised excise duty on petrol and diesel to take away gains coming by way of global oil prices dipping to six-year low.
Cumulatively, excise duty on petrol was hiked by Rs7.75 per litre and that on diesel by Rs6.50 a litre. Post these duty hikes, retail price of petrol in Delhi should have been Rs55.41 a litre and diesel Rs43.07 per litre. Pradhan said a year ago, petrol in Delhi was second cheapest in South Asia. Petrol price of Rs71.41 a litre at Delhi was cheaper than Bangladesh (Rs74.43), Sri lanka (Rs74.92) and Nepal (Rs83.61) but costlier than Rs66.17 a litre price in Pakistan. Similarly, diesel price of Rs55.49 on May 1, 2014 was cheaper than Rs71.27 in Pakistan, Rs56.17 in Sri lanka and Rs65.84 in Nepal. It was however costlier than Rs52.55 per litre rate prevalent at that time in Bangladesh.