The price of diesel will be hiked by 45 paise with effect from March 23. This was announced by IOC and will not include VAT and other local taxes. The central government in January had partially decontrolled the price of diesel and had permitted oil firms to increase the prices by up to 50 paise per month.
They had previously hiked the prices on January 16 and February 16 but did not do so this month to ensure that Parliamentary proceedings would not get disrupted over the issue. Now with the parliament taking a one month break, the oil firms hiked the prices. IOC has said that despite three price hikes they were still losing around Rs 8.19 per litre.
