PSU oil firms to charge uniform petrol price

State-owned oil firms in India agreed on a uniform price for petrol, though the government gave them the freedom to set the price of the fuel. They reportedly said that the prices would be revised once a month based on input cost. The three public sector undertakings (PSUs)–Indian Oil Co. Ltd., (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd., (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd., (HPCL)–will decide on pricing petrol once a month, based on international trends of crude oil and gasoline prices, IOC Corporate Director (Finance) S.V. Narasimhan said, adding that these PSUs would have a uniform price. The decision to allow IOC, BPCL and HPCL to act as an informal cartel was decided at a meeting convened by Oil Secretary S. Sundaresan. (July 15, 2010)