Petrol prices up by Rs 3.14 a litre

Petrol prices have been hiked by Rs. 3.14 a litre, which will be effective from midnight today

"This after state-owned oil firms met the Petroleum Secretary in Mumbai today to make a case for a hike, after the rupee touched a two-year low against the US dollar," NDTV reports.

Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) and Hindsutan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) now lose Rs 2.61 per litre due to high international crude oil prices and with rupee touching two-year low against the US dollar, the losses have increased the cost of importing crude oil.

Petrol price was last hiked by Rs 5 per litre on May 15. It costs Rs 63.70 per litre in Delhi.

Petrol price was freed from the government control in June last year, but the retail rates have not moved in line with cost as high inflation rate forced the oil companies to seek 'advice' from parent oil ministry before revising rates.

IOC, BPCL and HPCL have reportedly lost Rs 2,450 crore this fiscal on selling petrol below the cost.
Besides petrol, the three firms are losing Rs 263 crore per day on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below cost. Diesel is being sold at a subsidy of Rs 6.05 a litre, kerosene at Rs 23.25 per litre while domestic LPG rates are under-priced by Rs 267 per 14.2-kg cylinder.

A fall in the value of rupee increases the cost of importing crude oil. The rupee fell to 48 per dollar on Wednesday for the first time since September 2009. (ANI)

read more...

Inflation would come down to 6% by year-end: PM

Seeking to allay concerns over price rise, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today expressed confidence that inflation would come down to 6% by year-end.

"I am not an astrologer but analysts have said that by the end of this year, inflation will come down to 6%," Singh told reporters here during Iftar hosted by him.

He was responding to a question whether inflation would come down and whether it was possible in view of the upcoming festival season.

Headline inflation in July moderated to an eight-month low of 9.22%, from 9.44% in June, but items of mass consumption, including cereals and vegetables, and manufactured products continue to remain dearer.
Food inflation also slipped to 9.03% for the week ended August 6, from 9.90% in the previous week.

"Food inflation at the level of 9% is not acceptable. I do hope the measures taken to remove supply constraints in some of the agricultural commodities and good monsoon will help to have further moderating influence on the prices of food and other essential commodities," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said.

The government and the Reserve Bank have taken many measures to control the inflation. RBI has increased its key policy rate 11 times since March 2010 to curb spending and tame the rate of price rise.
The RBI had projected inflation to average 9% for the first six months of 2011-12 before moderating to around 7% by March-end.

Addressing the nation on the Independence Day, Singh had said that persisting high inflation is major challenges before the Indian economy.

"We are continuously monitoring the situation (on inflation) to find out what new steps can be taken to arrest rising prices. Finding a solution to this problem will be our top-most priority in the coming months," Singh had said.

Source: Moneycontrol

read more...

Wall Street ends higher; Brent above $110/bbl

The US markets rallied strongly in the final hour of trading, logging a three-day gain, after hovering near the flat line for most of the session, but investors remained cautious ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's Jackson hole speech on Friday.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.29% or 143.95 points at 11320.71. Nasdaq Composite gained 0.88% or 21.63 points at 2467.69. Standard & Poor's 500 advanced 1.31% or 15.25 points at 1177.6.

read more...