If you thought only the consumer was suffering from the increase in the rise of petrol and diesel prices, think again.
The Federation of All India Petroleum Traders (FAIPT) has alleged that the frequent increase in petrol and diesel prices are affecting their margin.
It has therefore issued a demand to the government to increase their commission from the current 1.4% to 5%, pointing out that the government has made substantial increase in the selling price of petrol and diesel.
“Petrol prices have been increased by Rs 22 per litre [around 50%] and diesel prices by Rs 9 per litre in the last two years without any substantial increase in our margin,” the Association pointed out.
The reason for the higher demand? Petroleum deals claim that they lose around 1% of the fuel in handling and evaporation. Therefore, a commission of 1.4% amounts to only 0.4% in reality.
They also point out that their commission is not calculated on a percentage basis, but is fixed at 1.21 rupees per litre of Petrol and 76 paise per litre of diesel. As a result, when the prices of the two increase, the value of the 1% evaporated fuel also increases. In other words, with every increase in price, the margin falls from the current 0.4% to 0.3% and so on.
The demand, however, is likely to fall on deaf ears as the government is already under fire from all directions for its decision to raise prices, while the oil companies are unwilling to share even a paisa more from their commission — which, interestingly, may be fixed as a percentage, rather than as a fixed amount.
