Petrol prices daily revision: How much will prices change, how do you check?

Diesel and petrol prices will change every day from tomorrow. Oil marketing companies (OMC) ran a 40-day pilot in five cities - Chandigarh, Jamshedpur, Puducherry, Udaipur, and Visakhapatnam - before deciding to roll out the fluctuating price system nationally. Until now, diesel and petrol prices were revised on a fortnightly basis. State-run companies - Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum - operate 54,000 petrol pumps in the country. There could be confusion about the prices in early days as reports say not all petrol pumps have their system automated to implement the change. So, when you visit a petrol pump tomorrow, here are few things to keep in mind:Prices to change at 6 a.m. everyday: Petrol prices will change at 6 a.m. everyday. It was earlier supposed to change at 11 p.m every day. However, petrol pump dealers opposed the timings saying they would need additional resource to make the price change that late in the night. Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that the decision to change the time to 6 a.m. had been taken after discussions with dealers association. "There was some practical difficulties which we have addressed in our meeting with leadership of all the three petroleum dealers association today," he said. This means that consumers can check the petrol prices early on in the day.

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Check price through SMS/Mobile App: Customers who want to know about the daily petrol prices can check the cost by sending a SMS or logging into Indian Oil's mobile app. The app Fuel@IOC will carry both diesel and petrol prices.  Customers can type RSPDEALER CODE and send it to 92249-92249 to receive the fuel prices through sms. "Customers would be able to fetch daily updated prices of petrol and diesel at all cities through Indian Oil's mobile app Fuel@IOC. Alternatively, customers may cross-check the prices applicable in their cities by sending SMS RSPDEALER CODE to 92249-92249. The Dealer Code of each petrol pump would be prominently displayed in the petrol pump premises," IOCL said.

Fluctuations may not be huge: Many consumers must be worried about huge change in fuel prices, but this may not be the case unless international fuel prices see a big change. Also, the price change pilot has already been conducted in five cities. "The daily price revision is an initiative for ensuring the best possible prices to the customers as well as improved transparency in the pricing mechanism," IOCL said. ALSO READ: Daily price revision of petrol and diesel: Here's how to check the cost

CNG price could change too: In the days ahead, it may not just be diesel and petrol prices that see a daily price change. Those using CNG may have to get used to a similar fluctuating prices. A lot of people use CNG in their vehicles as it's a cheaper option compared to petrol and diesel. Indian Oil Corporation CMD Sanjay Singh has said the OMCs are in the process of revising CNG price on a daily basis.

No strike on Friday: Petrol pump owners had earlier called for a "no-sale-no-purchase" strike on 16 June, the day daily revision in fuel prices was supposed to be implemented. This has now been called off. Federation of All India Petroleum Traders decided to call off the strike after the government agreed to alter the timing of price change from midnight to 6 a.m. in the morning. However, the dealers are also demanding a higher commission. "We are withdrawing our [strike] call. We have been assured there will be a higher dealer commission from July. However, the rate of increase will be decided later. We have asked for a 5 per cent increase on both petrol and diesel," Ashok Badhwar, president, Federation of All India Petroleum Traders told Business Standard.

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