New Delhi: Even though the oil marketing companies (OMCs) kept the prices of petrol and diesel unchanged across major Indian cities on Thursday, the OMCs increased the prices of petrol and diesel for 285 times in two years.
According to the information provided by Minister of State for Petroleum Rameswar Teli to Lok Sabha, the government said that the prices of petrol were increased for 76 times in 2020-21, while diesel prices were increased for 73 times in the same year.
Notably, on the last day of December 2020, the price of petrol was Rs 83.71 in Delhi, Rs 90.34 in Mumbai, Rs 85.19 in Kolkata and Rs 86.51 in Chennai. The price of diesel was recorded at Rs 73.87 in Delhi, Rs 80.51 in Mumbai, Rs 77.44 in Kolkata and Rs 79.21 in Chennai on December 31, 2020.
"The OMCs increased petrol prices for 69 times and diesel prices for 67 times in 2021-22 (till December 3)," the minister said in a written reply to a question asked by Kerala Congress MP Thomas Chazhikadan.
As per the minister, LPG prices were also increased for eight times in the year 2020-21 and four times in 2021-22 (till December 03). The price of domestic fuel was decreased for two times in the last year and it has been reduced for one time this year.
Petrol prices witnessed a reduction for 10 times and diesel prices were reduced for 24 times in the year 2020-21. Similarly, petrol prices were decreased for seven times and diesel price reduced for 10 times till December 3 this year.
The prices of petrol and diesel remained unchanged for 279 days and 268 days respectively in 2020-21, while in 2021-22, the petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged for 171 days and 170 days respectively till December 3 this year.
On Thursday, petrol was sold at Rs 95.41 in Delhi, Rs 109.98 in Mumbai, Rs 104.67 in Kolkata and Rs 101.50 in Chennai, while the price of diesel was Rs 86.67 in Delhi, Rs 94.14 in Mumbai, Rs 89.79 in Kolkata and Rs 91.52 in Chennai.