Petrol price at 2-yr high of Rs 83 per litre, diesel at 73.32
New Delhi: Petrol price on Saturday breached the Rs 83 per litre-mark in Delhi for the first time in more than two years after a rally in international oil prices forced the 13th increase in rates in the last fortnight.
Petrol price on Saturday was raised by 27 paise per litre and diesel by 25 paise, according to a price notification of oil marketing companies.
Petrol price in Delhi rose to Rs 83.13 per litre from Rs 82.86. Diesel rates went up from Rs 73.07 to Rs 73.32 per litre.
This is the highest rate for petrol and diesel since September 2018 and followed the 13th increase in rates since November 20 when oil companies resumed daily price revision after nearly a two-month hiatus.
In 16 days, the petrol price has gone up by Rs 2.07 per litre and diesel rate has risen by Rs 2.86.
ICICI Securities said vaccine hopes are driving oil prices up.
Brent crude oil is up 34 percent from lows in end-October 2020 driven by the hope that COVID-19 vaccines would lead to demand recovery.
"The oil price surge is despite a second wave of Covid in Europe and US (which has led to demand recovery reversal), and surge in Libyan oil output from 0.1 million barrels per day (BPD) to 1.25 million BPD," it said.
Oil cartel OPEC plus its allies like Russia, (called OPEC+), deciding to raise output from January 2021 more modestly than earlier agreed is likely to ensure global supply deficit even in the first quarter of 2021. "Thus, OPEC+ has done its part to prevent supply surplus until the vaccine boosts demand," it added.
Brent has risen from USD 36.9 per barrel on October 30 to USD 49.5 on December 4.
IEA estimates the global oil supply deficit at 2.1-2.8 million BPD in Q3-Q4 calendar year 2020. However, a surplus of 0.4 million was likely in Q1 2021 if OPEC+, as agreed in April 2020, was to prune output cuts from 7.7 million BPD to 5.8 million BPD from January.
"However, we now estimate supply deficit of 0.5 million BPD in Q1 2021 and 0.2-2.8 million BPD in Q2-Q4 as OPEC+ has decided to raise output by just 0.5 million BPD in January 2021 and by not more than 0.5 million BPD in later months and only after deliberations," ICICI Securities said.
Prior to the November 20 hike in rates in India, petrol prices had been static since September 22, and diesel rates hadn't changed since October 2.
Public sector oil marketing companies - Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) - revise rates of petrol and diesel daily based on benchmark international oil price and foreign exchange rate.
They had, however, resorted to calibrating the rates since the pandemic broke out with a view to avoiding volatility in retail prices.
The 58-day hiatus in petrol price revision and 48-day status quo on diesel rates were preceded by no change in rates between June 30 and August 15 and an 85-day status quo between March 17 and June 6.
In Mumbai, the petrol price on Friday was raised to Rs 89.78 per litre from Rs 89.52, while diesel rates went up from Rs 79.66 to Rs 79.93.
Rates vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.
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Affront to non-Hindi speaking people: Chidambaram slams use of Hindi words in bills' names
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader P Chidambaram has slammed the "increasing practice" of the government using Hindi words in the titles of the bills and said the change is an "affront" to the non-Hindi-speaking people.
Chidambaram said the non-Hindi-speaking people cannot identify a Bill/Act with titles that are in Hindi words written in English letters, and they cannot pronounce them.
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"I am opposed to the increasing practice of the government using Hindi words written in English letters in the title of the Bills to be introduced in Parliament," the former Union minister said late Monday night.
Hitherto, the practice was to write the title of the Bill in English words in the English version and in Hindi words in the Hindi version of the Bill, Chidambaram said.
"When no one pointed out any difficulty in the 75 year practice, why should government make a change?" he said.
"This change is an affront to non-Hindi speaking people and to States that have an official language other than Hindi," the Congress leader said.
Successive governments have reiterated the promise that English will remain an Associate Official Language, Chidambaram said.
"I fear that promise is in danger of being broken," the Congress MP said.
