No intervention in daily price revision: Govt

NEW DELHI: Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday ruled out government intervention to disrupt the daily revision in petrol and diesel prices despite Rs 7.3 per litre spike in rates since July, saying the reform will continue.

He however remained non-committal on cutting taxes to soften the blow of relentless rise in prices since July 3, the government need to finance huge infrastructure and social projects has to be balanced with consumer needs.

Terming the criticism of spike in rates as unfair, he said the drop in prices for over a fortnight after the daily price revision was introduced on June 16 has been ignored and only "temporary" phenomenon of rising trend is being highlighted. India relies on imports to meet 80 per cent of its needs and so domestic fuel rates have been aligned to movement of equivalent product prices in the international market since April 2002.

Previously the rates were changed every fortnight but since June 16 they are revised daily, Pradhan said, adding that the daily revision immediately passes on the benefit of any reduction in international oil prices to consumers and avoids sharp spikes by spreading them in small doses.

"It is high time GST Council should consider bringing the petroleum products in the ambit of GST," he said.

While petrol prices have increased by Rs 7.32 to reach Rs 70.38 a litre in Delhi, the highest since August 2014, diesel rates have risen by Rs 5.36 to Rs 58.72.

Pradhan said the current prices were not the highest.

"The all time high retail selling price at Delhi of petrol was Rs 76.06 per litre on September 14, 2013," he said.