Hours after oil-marketing companies cut the price of petrol and diesel by 1 paisa owing to a fall in global crude oil rates, the state government of Kerala reduced the tax levies on fuel by Re 1.

Fuel prices have continued to scale new peaks for 15th day in a row today. Petrol is now up by close to Rs 4 per litre since the 19-day pre-Karnataka poll hiatus ended on May 13 while diesel is up by over Rs 3 per litre.

The problem, as the current set of ministers have found out, is that it is always easy to protest while in Opposition - but not so easy to take steps to cool prices when you are in the government.

Homebuyers will now be treated on par with financial creditors and lenders after the Union Cabinet approved amendments to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code; even as petrol and diesel prices are on fire, the government is still to come up with a solution to this rampaging price rise and rising current account deficit due to crude price hikes has weakened the rupee further against the dollar. BusinessToday.In Editor Rajeev Dubey explains this and more on The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

The ministry plans to direct ONGC to sell its crude oil at below ruling international prices by capping the price at, say, $70 for the entire fiscal year. Oil India Ltd, the country's second largest hydrocarbon exploration and production PSU, will not be a part of this scheme.

Interestingly, while the retail prices have gone up, the price at which the fuel is sold to petrol pump dealers has come down drastically since 2013.

Petrol and diesel prices reached their respective all-time highs after state-owned oil companies passed on the four weeks of non-stop increase in international oil prices to consumers.

Petrol price on Sunday touched a record high of Rs 76.24 per litre and diesel climbed to its highest ever level of Rs 67.57 as the oil PSUs passed on four weeks of relentless rise in international oil prices to consumers.

Every $10 per barrel rise in the price will worsen India's fiscal balance by 0.1% and current account balance by 0.4% of GDP, according to estimates of global financial services major Nomura.

Petrol prices shoot up after Karnataka pollsThe oil marketing companies incurred a loss of Rs 35 crore per day during the 19-day pre-Karnataka poll hiatus in fuel price hikes. The markets suffered a total revenue loss of Rs 380 crore in this period, according to an analysis by the Business Standard. This figure is based on the average consumption of petrol as well as diesel. Indian Oil Corporation Ltd's marketing margins, for instance, reduced from an estimated Rs 3.4 per litre ...

The oil marketing companies incurred a loss of Rs 35 crore per day during the 19-day pre-Karnataka poll hiatus in fuel price hikes.

After a 19-day pre-Karnataka poll hiatus, petrol price was today hiked by 17 paise a litre and diesel by 21 paise as PSU oil firms began passing on the spike witnessed in international rates to consumers.

As crude oil rises above $65 a barrel on the back of oil production cuts, retail consumers can expect to pay an even higher price than what they are currently used to

The government now wants state governments to cut VAT on petrol and diesel by 5 per cent to ease the skyrocketing fuel prices.