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In Delhi, diesel costs 90.67 rupees per liter, and petrol costs 97.77 rupees.
BY Mahnoor | 15-05-2026
Indian government-owned gas stations increased petrol and diesel prices for the first time in four years by 3 rupees ($0.03) per liter, which is over 3%. Dealers say this is to make up for losses from higher global oil prices.
India, a top oil importer and user, is among the last large countries to increase fuel prices after shipping was disturbed in the Strait of Hormuz because of the war initiated by US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp, and Bharat Petroleum Corp, all owned by the government, together run over 90% of India’s 103,000 gas stations and usually set diesel and gasoline prices at the same time.
A BPCL representative said prices went up at their stores. Indian Oil and HPCL haven’t commented yet.
In Delhi, the price of diesel will be 90.67 rupees per liter, and petrol will be 97.77 rupees. This is a 3.4% and 3.2% increase from the previous prices of 87.67 and 94.77 rupees per liter, respectively.
Worldwide oil prices suddenly jumped to over $120 per barrel but then decreased to about $100 to $105.
Fuel retailers’ stocks fell on Friday. Indian Oil Corp decreased by 2.4%, HPCL by 3.3%, and BPCL by 3.6% as of 0550 GMT.
Madhavi Arora, chief economist at Emkay Global Financial Services in Mumbai, said that the direct effect of higher fuel prices on consumer inflation would be small, around 0.15%, but the indirect effect will be bigger.
“The increases aren’t big enough, but they could be the beginning of more increases over time,” she said.
Ways to save fuel
To decrease fuel use and control the cost of importing oil, New Delhi has started cost-cutting steps as officials prepare for a long-lasting energy problem.
Because global energy prices are rising and hurting India’s foreign money, Prime Minister Modi suggested things like saving fuel, working from home, and reducing travel and imports on Sunday.
This week, some states told government offices to limit travel, skip in-person events, and use online meetings. They also asked them to work from home two days a week, with only half the staff in the office.
India will probably expand these rules to include millions of workers in the national government, banks owned by the government, and public companies. This shows the government is serious about cutting costs and improving how things work as money problems get worse.
Reuters sent an email to the government asking for their opinion, but the government didn’t reply.
Higher prices will likely reduce sales
Experts say the price increase isn’t big, so companies could still raise prices more to make up for lost money.
According to Prashant Vashisth from ICRA Ltd. (Moody’s India), even though the increase in petrol prices isn’t much, it will still slow down how quickly petrol demand grows in India. Other things, like people working from home, will also reduce the demand for petrol.
ICRA now predicts gasoline use will grow by 3-4% this year, down from their earlier 5-6% forecast because of rising prices after the war. They also expect diesel growth to be flat, whereas they previously estimated 2-3% growth.
Experts and opposing political groups stated that government-owned stores waited to increase prices until after important state elections. These elections finished this month, and Modi’s BJP party won in two out of four states, increasing their power.
In April, a ministry official, Sujata Sharma, stated that rising oil prices due to the war led Indian retailers to lose approximately 100 rupees per liter of diesel and 20 rupees per liter of petrol.
In late March, the Indian oil refiner Nayara Energy, supported by Russia, increased its fuel prices at gas stations to reduce some of the money it was losing from those sales.
(One US dollar equals 95.7625 Indian rupees.)
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