MUMBAI: While this is some relief during Diwali for motorists and transporters, it is bad news for petrol pump owners.
Petrol in Maharashtra, which has one of the highest VAT on excise, could reduce by around Rs6 a litre, and diesel could come down by around Rs12, said fuel pricing experts.
They said there was 26% VAT on excise duty, and this should lead to a drop by an extra rupee for petrol, apart from a Rs5 reduction per litre announced by the Centre. Similarly, there should be an around Rs2 VAT reduction for diesel in Maharashtra, apart from Rs10 reduction in excise duty announced by the Centre.
Dealer commission will also drop marginally, they said.
Exact rates will be declared at pumps on Thursday morning.
Petrol pump owners were fuming as oil terminals were shut for two days, and almost all of them purchased three days’ stock. “With rates dropping, we will incur huge losses,” said a petrol pump owner from Ghatkopar, adding that in his case, it was a Rs 4 lakh loss overnight.
“We stocked so much fuel, we have to bear the losses now. The government will not compensate us,” he said.
The city has 237 petrol pumps and each stocks 40,000-50,000 litres of fuel. Pump owners complained that there has been no increase in dealer commission for four-and-a-half years, which was frustrating.
“With fresh losses, we will be disappointed during Diwali although consumers may rejoice,” said another pump owner.
On Monday, the 19kg commercial LPG cylinder was hiked by Rs266 in Mumbai while there was no hike in price of domestic LPG cylinder (14.2 kg) which is delivered to households. The domestic cylinder price remains the same at Rs900.
