Commercial LPG, premium fuel prices hiked; no change for domestic LPG, regular petrol, diesel even as OMCs’ losses mount

Prices of a couple of variants of premium petrol and diesel have also been hiked, although prices of regular petrol and diesel—that account for 95% of petrol and diesel sales in India—remain unchanged even as the OMCs are incurring heavy losses on the sale of these essential transportation fuels. Currently, the OMCs are incurring under-recoveries of over Rs 24 per litre on petrol and almost Rs 105 per litre on diesel. The government last week slashed excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 10 per litre to provide some relief to the OMCs as they have not hiked retail prices of the two fuels. Nonetheless, they continue to bleed heavily on selling these fuels at a loss.

Defending the hike in commercial LPG prices, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) said that it was necessitated due to significant jump in global benchmark prices, which have risen over the past few weeks amid the raging West Asia war which has all but halted vessel movements through the critical chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz. It also said that the OMCs’ under-recovery on LPG sales to households was Rs 380 per cylinder, leading to heavy losses for the companies. Commercial LPG sales in India are just a fraction of LPG supplied to households.

“Prices of Commercial LPG cylinders, used by industries and hotels, are deregulated, market determined and revised normally on a monthly basis. Their consumption is less than 10% of the total LPG consumed in the country. April 1 price increase in Commercial cylinder price is due to a 44% surge in the Saudi Contract Price: from $542/MT (tonne) in March to $780/MT for April, as 20-30% of global LPG supplies are stuck in Strait of Hormuz,” MoPNG said in a post on social media platform X.

“At current prices, OMCs are incurring under recovery of Rs 380/cylinder. Cumulative losses by end-May will reach approximately Rs 40,484 crore. Last year also, out of total losses of Rs 60,000 crore, Rs 30,000 crore were absorbed by Oil PSUs and Rs 30,000 crore by Government of India, in order to insulate the Indian citizen from high international LPG prices. India’s domestic LPG price remains one of the lowest in the world as compared to Pakistan: Rs 1,046. Sri Lanka: Rs 1,242. Nepal: Rs 1,208,” it added.

With the West Asia war effectively closing off the critical maritime chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz, crude oil and fuel prices have surged globally. India depends heavily on oil and gas imports to meet its energy needs, and fuel prices in the country are linked to global oil and fuel price benchmarks. With the effective halt in vessel movements through the Strait of Hormuz—from where one-fifth of global oil and natural gas flows usually transited—global energy supplies have been hit and prices have skyrocketed. While India has been in a comfortable position with regard to crude oil, petrol, and diesel availability, it still has to bear the brunt of high prices. In the case of LPG, apart from high prices, supplies to India have been notably hit, forcing the government to ration commercial and industrial LPG sales in order to prioritise supplies to crores of households that depend on LPG.

“It is also clarified that regular petrol and diesel prices—the fuel that India runs on—are unchanged i.e. at Rs 94.77/litre and Rs 87.67/litre in Delhi. With global petroleum prices up by upto 100% in the last 1 month, PSU OMCs are incurring under-recoveries of Rs 24.40/litre on petrol and Rs 104.99/litre on diesel at RSP (retail selling price) level as on 01.04.2026,” the MoPNG said in a separate post on X.

The ministry said that the recent hikes in premium fuel prices are as per the OMCs’ regular fortnightly price revision schedule for these fuels “whose sales by volume are 2% and 5% of total volume”. It added that these fuels are “purchased by motorists, at a premium, by choice”. “Every pump in India continues to offer regular petrol and diesel at unchanged prices, even as prices in countries all over the world have risen by 30-50%,” the MoPNG said.

The price of Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOC) XP100 petrol was hiked by Rs 11 per litre on Wednesday to Rs 160 per litre in Delhi, while that of its Xtra Green premium diesel was increased to Rs 92.99 per litre from Rs 91.49 earlier. In March, prices of some other premium petrol variants were hiked by Rs 2 per litre.