The prices of petrol and diesel will be revised every day all over India, starting June 16, 2017. Currently, a pilot program, that kicked off on May 1, is being run by state-owned oil companies in five cities, namely Puducherry, Vishakapatnam, Udaipur, Jamshedpur and Chandigarh.
The current system sees fuel prices revised by the state-owned oil marketing companies on the 1st and 16th of every month. The rates also depend on the movement of fuel prices in the international market. They also take into account the rupee-dollar exchange rate of the previous fortnight.
For the transition to be smooth, companies such as the Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (which own over 95 percent of the 58,000-odd petrol pumps in India), are ensuring all employees are comprehensively trained at fuel pumps across the country.
Indian Oil Corporation in a statement said, "This move will ensure that the benefit of even the smallest change in international oil prices can be passed down the line to the dealers and the end users."
At fuel stations that are automated, prices will update automatically centrally, and will change at 00:00 hours each day. For non-automated petrol pumps, dealers can receive updated prices via SMS, e-mails, mobile apps and/or websites. Customers via the respective oil company's phone app or website can access this data too.
This process is currently followed in the US and Japan, while rates are changed weekly in Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and the UK.