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Diesel-Petrol price difference trend since 2002 (Delhi)

Click on any sheet to enlarge / zoom











• In Jun'02 the price of petrol was just under Rs 30 and diesel was around Rs 18 - a difference of approx 50%

• The price difference averaged at 45% for a period of about 2.5 years from Jun'02 to Nov'04

• From Apr'05 to Dec'08 (a period of 3 years 8 months), price difference between both the fuels averaged at 35%, with price hikes between 6-9% on almost four separate occasions till Jun'06, with a big hike of approx 10% in Jun'08 for both the fuels

• Dec'08 to Sep'10 was marked by drastic increase, as well as reduction in prices of both fuels. Overall Diesel prices increased from Rs 35 to Rs 38 (8% approx), whereas petrol only increased by Re 1 (2% approx)

• This resulted in the price gap reducing steadily, and by Apr'10 the gap reduced to a low of 23% only

• In Sep'10, price of diesel was reduced by 6%, whereas from thereon till May'11 petrol price was hiked repeatedly to the tune of Rs 6 in total, without any change in the price of diesel. This resulted in again an increase in the price difference to the tune of 31%, which kept on increasing till Jun'12 by when the difference had shot up to 52%. In the intervening period (May-Jun'11), prices of both the fuels was hiked drastically by around 8-9%

• Between Sep'05 & May-Jun'12 there were atleast four (five in case of diesel) instances wherein there wasn't any change in fuel prices for appox. 250 days on each instance. So for a total of around 3 years, there wasn't any change in the prices of both fuels, during the 7 odd years from 2005 to 2012.

• A sudden increase of 12% (Rs 5.63 / litre) in the diesel price in Sep'12 (without a commensurate increase in petrol prices), brought down the difference to around 36%

• Since then the price difference has varied between 24-37% with a low of 24% in May-Jun'13 & a high of 37% in Sep-Oct'13

• Overall from Sep'12 till Apr'14 (a period of about 45 months):
- Diesel prices have increased by 18% or Rs. 8.53 / litre
- Petrol prices have increased by 6% or Rs. 4.36 / litre

• As of Apr'14, the price difference is hovering at the 27% mark (approx Rs 18), with a temporary hold on the 50 paise per litre monthly increase in diesel prices, which was in effect since Jun'13

• Intermittently prices of both the fuel have been reduced, due to change in international crude prices and/or fluctuation in foreign exchange rates (Rupee vs US Dollar), but overall there has been a steady increase in price of both the fuels

NOTE: The difference is better measured in percentage terms rather than absolute value. That is why most of the points are based on percentage difference between the price of the two fuels.

Source for fuel prices: Indian Oil Corporation website
http://www.iocl.com/Products/Gasoline.aspx
http://www.iocl.com/Products/HighSpeedDiesel.aspx

Effect of fuel prices on car sales

Please refer to my other related thread
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...-segments.html

Very well done mate.clap: An excellent and very detailed analysis. Thanks for sharing.

Hope the difference between petrol and diesel will diminish further and we will be blessed with more & better petrol engines in near future. :D

It would really help if you could create some graphs from all that data...

Thanks for the good compilation.
I think we are now at a tipping point with the elections underway and the new Govt. will possibly hold off hikes on Diesel to curtail inflation (my guess).

Updating this thread at the end of the year should yield some very interesting figures :)

You are right - a graph will give a better picture. Here are a couple of crude ones for the moment:

Hi Jessie,

Thanks for bring out the detailed analysis.
While the trend shows narrowing of price gap between Petrol & Diesel, however it will not go below Rs. 12 (approx)

The diesel would always have a price advantage as the subsidy is likely to remain as it is. This coupled with better fuel efficiency of Diesel engine would still drive the Diesel cars sale.

This is perfect Analysis. Clearly indicates that increased oil prices are here to stay and probably for good.
However, I am personally troubled with the increased diesel usage in cars. I urge everyone to do this test personally
- Stand behind an idling petrol car and see how you feel
- Stand behind and idling diesel car and see how you feel.
I have done this test with a couple of my friends and we shared similar observations
- You could smell the diesel exhaust from even 3-4 meters away from the tail pipe
- We could feel the exhaust irritating our respiratory tracts possibly due to high PM 2.5 and PM 10 exhausts.

This has led to contemplate is I should dispose off my Diesel Car. It may be light on the pocket for driving, but possibly, we will be spending more on illness / productive time. Diesel which was primarily a highway fuel used by Commerical Transport, is not polluting more on the streets, with our ever growing population of cars. Probably the incremental price rises should be stepped up so that we are able to quickly discourage further dieselisation of private transport.

Food for thought or am I off topic !!

PS : This is not a scientific study. This is purely based on personal experiences.

Very interesting data. Amazing that the price difference moved from 23% in April 2010 to 50%+ in 2012 - no wonder, the entire car industry got dieselized in those two years. When I bought my Superb in April 2010, buying a petrol was a no brainer. Within 2 years, a combination of higher absolute prices, and price differences meant that decision seemed wrong.

Good analysis!

Some observations:
- Between 2012 and 2014, Diesel price went up by 208% while petrol went up by 141%
- At launch (in 2006?), the Swift Diesel was more expensive than the Petrol versions by only Rs. 40,000 (approximate, from memory). But most people still bought the Petrol Swift. In 2014, the difference is over Rs. 1,20,200, excluding discounts on the Petrol. Yet, most now by the Diesel.
- At launch, the Diesel and Petrol Octavias cost almost the same. Now, though the Petrol too is turbocharged, the price difference is considerable.

Now th4 under recovery on diesel is supposedly Rs.6.80. By all accounts the new govt will have to tackle it in a hurry.

I drive an Eon 800, about 100 km a day, a lot (not most) of which is on the SP Ring road around Ahmedabad.

A current mileage of about 21 kmpl through judicious use of ac and a light foot. At current price difference, implies that I need to drive about 98000 km to cover JUST the 1 lac general difference in Ex-showroom price of a new diesel against its petrol sibling. that if I get avg consumption of 25 kmpl on a diesel hatch - about 3.5 years at least. Doesnt make sense to buy a diesel for the sake of efficiency and TCO any more.

Indeed a very interesting thread.
I am a petrol head and had them all my life .
I recently bought a diesel ecosport and throughly fell in love with a diesel motor.

Just love the torque of a diesel motorclap:

So even if the diesel and petrol prices equalize, my next car will be a diesel.

Well, for Petroheads who have driven natuarally aspirated engines, will love the Common Rail Diesel Torque.

To do justice drive any Turbo Charged Petrol (Polo, Ecosport, Linea T-Jet) and you will never go back to diesel

I have owned petrol cars in the last 2 decades and at that time it was not actually difficult to maintain a Petrol car viz-a-viz petrol expenditure as compared in today's time. This thread has ably highlighted the change in price trend over the years. Over here I also would like to share the petrol prices at time when I had my first car i.e Premier Padmini in 1993.

Here are a few pics from my Paa's 1993 personal diary.

The petrol costed INR 250-to-350 for 15-20 L.







Seeing the above, It is nothing less than a herculean task to meet the petrol expenses in today's time.

Thanks

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