Petrol price to change daily: Things to keep in mind when you visit a petrol pump

Diesel and petrol prices, which were earlier revised every fortnight, will now change on a daily basis. Starting today, fuel prices will change at 6 a.m. everyday.

Before implementing the daily revsion plan across the country, Oil marketing companies (OMCs) ran a successful 40-day pilot in five cities - Chandigarh, Jamshedpur, Puducherry, Udaipur, and Visakhapatnam.

Apart from state-run companies such as Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum which together operate around 54,000 petrol pumps in the country, private players like Reliance and Essar are also into fuel retailing.

Here are few things to keep in mind when you visit a petrol pump:

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," Indian Oil Corporation 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," IOC said.

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.