Refiners seek govt nod to raise prices

Refiners are seeking government support for their plan to raise consumer prices to recover heavy investments they have made in upgrading their facilities to produce less polluting Bharat Stage-VI fuel.

Refiners will need to recover an additional 80 paise a litre on petrol and Rs 1.45 a litre on diesel for five years for a decent return on their investments, according to industry executives.

State-run refiners, including Indian Oil CorporationNSE -0.04 %, Bharat Petroleum CorporationNSE -1.01 %, Hindustan Petroleum CorporationNSE -0.59 % and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals, have together spent about Rs 35,000 crore in upgrading their units for BS VI-compliant fuels, to meet the official target of supplying less polluting fuel across the country from April 1, 2020. Private refiners too have also spent heavily on this.