Fuel price hike adds to worries of many

KOCHI: Johar, a native of Vaduthala may sell his petrol car if the petrol price hike happens again. He is one of those who are miffed by the recent surge, and on Friday he left his bike at the bus stop and opted to travel on bus to Paravur. "Bus trip would cost me only Rs 21, instead of the Rs 70 I have to shell out for petrol, " Johar says.
Analysts blame the the instability of our currency against dollar for the hike."It is the 'currency effect' that caused the surge in petrol price. As the price of crude oil is settled in dollar, the depreciation of rupee has driven up the price of petrol", says Prejith, analyst at Geojit Comtrade. He predicts the similar situation in the near future too.
On the other hand, Meleth Radhakrishnan, secretary of All Kerala Federation of Petroleum Traders, believes that the price hike is unwanted and unjustifiable. "The price of Brent crude oil is what determines the price of the petroleum products. When value of rupee depreciated against dollar from Rs 45 in September 1st to Rs 48 on Thursday, the petroleum companies decided to increase the price. But the rate of Rs 48 continued for only one hour and came back to Rs 47.35, which was the ongoing rate till September 10th. Hence we can't justify the price hike", Radhakrishnan says.
Radhakrishnan accuses that oil companies, without a proper feasibility study are increasing the number of retail outlets in the state and he believes that this actually affects the financial health of the companies, not the price surge of crude oil. "Bharat Petroleum is planning start 174 and Hindustan Petroleum is trying to open another 74 this financial year. Between all the companies, they are trying to open 400 outlets in the state and for each outlet, the companies are spending around Rs 2.5 crore".
During today's bus trip from Paravoor to Cheranalloor, Johar noticed 6 public protests against petrol price hike - a measure of the intensity of the feeling of the people, in crude terms