In a major relief, the price of petrol & diesel have been reduced by Rs 5 per litre and Rs 3 per litre respectively, announced Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Shinde informed reporters after a cabinet meeting at Mantralaya that the decision would entail a burden of Rs 6,000 crore on the state exchequer. Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said the decision was part of the Shiv Sena-BJP government’s commitment to people’s welfare.
Petrol, diesel sales jump in June
India's petrol consumption jumped by 54 per cent and that of diesel soared by 48 per cent in the first fortnight of June from a year earlier with continuing demand recovery from a relatively low base in 2021 when the world's third-biggest oil user was in the grip of the second wave of COVID-19.
Petrol sales by state-owned fuel retailers, which control roughly 90 per cent of the market, at 1.28 million tonnes between June 1 and 14 was 54.2 per cent higher than the same period last year when a devastating second COVID-19 wave wreaked havoc on the economy.
This consumption was 48.2 per cent higher than the demand in the first fortnight of June 2020 and 25 per cent more than the 1.02 million tonnes of sales in the pre-COVID June 2019. Month-on-month sales were up 0.8 per cent, preliminary industry data showed.
Diesel, the most-used fuel in the country, saw sales jumping 47.8 per cent year-on-year to 3.4 million tonnes between June 1-14. This was 37.3 per cent higher than the corresponding period of June 2020 and 20.3 per cent more than the pre-COVID 2019 period. It was 12 per cent higher than the 3.03 million tonnes of consumption during May 1-14 this year.
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