[SLK]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Honda also recommends normal petrol. Now what we understand is that the additives are put in at the distribution level, so let them die. I will suggest use System D or G once in a while. I stopped Premium once we with BS-III and IV. Earlier with BSII you would not get 91RON in these towns.

Optra Magnum recommends Premium, but this increase means, I'll use normal! A little more black soot, that's all!

Except for my City ZX, all the other cars we have both diesel and petrol actually behave differently (smoother, silent) with premium fuels.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by SLK

Optra Magnum recommends Premium, but this increase means, I'll use normal! A little more black soot, that's all!

Except for my City ZX, all the other cars we have both diesel and petrol actually behave differently (smoother, silent) with premium fuels.

You may not get the soot after some time, one the system recalibrates itself to the new diet. You may add System D once in a while. Why the additives became popular was that our fuel (esp Petrol) had a habit of gumming up the injectors. The number of stranded early Cielos is proof. However, quite some time ago they modified the refining process to take care of this. So I think it is more a matter of habit than logic.

[SLK]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

You may not get the soot after some time, one the system recalibrates itself to the new diet. You may add System D once in a while. Why the additives became popular was that our fuel (esp Petrol) had a habit of gumming up the injectors. The number of stranded early Cielos is proof. However, quite some time ago they modified the refining process to take care of this. So I think it is more a matter of habit than logic.

On the other hand the Ritz Vdi, clearly shows a drop of about 10% in the FE with the normal fuel and after 3-4 tanks it gets louder and harsher too.

Considering my household diesel consumption, I'll start hoarding system D now .

What you say about the petrol is probably right now-a-days, I had my Alto run 1lac kms and then for the first time cleaned the injectors, there was nothing and no difference in driving as well.

[carwatcher]

Current Diesel and Petrol prices in Goa.
Petrol (Rs.57.00 (yes exact amount)) and Diesel (Rs. 49.79) per litre.
Funny part is that even though the difference is not much but the resale value of Petrol cars is still pathetic as compared to Diesel ones.

[RSR]

Originally Posted by carwatcher

Current Diesel and Petrol prices in Goa.
Petrol (Rs.57.00 (yes exact amount)) and Diesel (Rs. 49.79) per litre.
Funny part is that even though the difference is not much but the resale value of Petrol cars is still pathetic as compared to Diesel ones.

You Goans are very lucky to have a state government that understands the pain of petrol car users and bikers! Every time the central gubmint-oil PSU mafia raised petrol prices and left diesel untouched, it was a tight slap (from the filthy "hand") on the face of the working class folks who mostly use mopeds/scooters/100cc bikes to commute due to the lack of decent public transport facilities in most cities and towns. If only all states and the vile central gubMINT followed the example of Goa - all they are interested is minting money in the form of taxes, more taxes and still more taxes to fund freebies for the poor, gullible and short-sighted voters and to fill up their Swiss banks accounts with ill-gotten wealth from giga-scams and tera-scams like Adarsh, CWG, 2G, Coalgate et cetera et cetera

The price difference between petrol and diesel in Goa is the way it really should be i.e. if not almost the same, then no more than ~ Rs. 5.00 - 8.00

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by RSR

The price difference between petrol and diesel in Goa is the way it really should be i.e. if not almost the same, then no more than ~ Rs. 5.00 - 8.00

Agree fully with you on the taxes part but a reason why the Goa government has gone ahead and let go of its earnings from taxes on petrol is because the amount was not significant enough to dent its budget.

Check this graphic here that I posted in another thread.


Goa gave up only Rs 90 crores of petrol tax revenue collected annually, understandably so, because Goa is a very small state. This revenue is much much higher for bigger states on account of higher sales volumes. Also the fiscal deficit of Goa is one of the lowest in the country. What Goa lost in revenues in petrol taxes it made up quietly by increasing taxes on liquor. Also it imposed some entry taxes on non-Goa registered vehicles making it somewhat even-stevens for their budget.

I think its high time we did a re-look at our federal structure from a fiscal point of view. I was going through a RBI document on state finances and their budgets and found that all of them are running large deficits. A primary reason for that is while the states are responsible for providing a lion's share of the services for the common citizen, the center does precious little to fund that. They do announce lots of schemes which entail transfers to the state but most of the funds are used to extract political benefits by the center at the cost of development. The rest of those funds are lost in organized corruption. As a result the states take the easy way out of taxing petrol and diesel. I think states should now demand a share of the income tax that is collected maybe up to 10% while capping the center's share to only 20% to better fund the state's finances. Somewhat like the US where I think states are not allowed to have any deficits on their budgets even while the federal government funds a lot of the development and support schemes directly. Oh well, that would be a totally different discussion. My point is just that because the states are in a sorry state of fiscal affairs partly by design and partly by short-sighted policy they charge hefty taxes on petrol and diesel and whatever they can lay their eyes on .

[RSR]

Thank you for the chart! Yes, Goa is a small state and can afford to forego some tax collection on petrol (compensated in other areas), but the main reason is the lack of political will to bring in such radical changes.

In my state (TN) as in many other states, liquor is viewed as a solid revenue stream. The state government here has a monopoly on the distribution and stand-alone retail of the so-called IMFL (Indian Made Foreign Liquor). As a result, the more liquor they sell, the more revenue they earn. This has led to the very unhealthy practice of the state having to indirectly encourage the consumption of liquor. This not only leads to an increase in social problems, but makes addicts out of many (men of the socio-economically weak classes can be irresponsible drinkers and are capable of spending their entire daily wages on liquor alone).

But Gujarat (a "dry" state) has also shown that it is possible to manage the finances without any revenue from liquor (I'm aware that due to corruption and lack of enforcement, liquor may be easily obtainable in GJ even if prohibition is officially in place). What makes it more appreciable is the fact that GJ has always got a raw financial deal from the central gubmint in the last 8 years or so, due to political reasons. TN had also got rid of the state run lotteries earlier, foregoing the revenue from that stream. And of course, now GA has decided not to treat petrol as a cash cow in order to benefit its citizens.

What I meant to say with these examples is that if the political will is there not to tax petrol savagely, such things can be done without much deterioration in finances.

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

I think its high time we did a re-look at our federal structure from a fiscal point of view. I was going through a RBI document on state finances and their budgets and found that all of them are running large deficits. A primary reason for that is while the states are responsible for providing a lion's share of the services for the common citizen, the center does precious little to fund that. They do announce lots of schemes which entail transfers to the state but most of the funds are used to extract political benefits by the center at the cost of development. The rest of those funds are lost in organized corruption.

I whole-heartedly agree with you on this. I could not have put it better than what you've said.

The pseudo-federal structure of India is hurting all its citizens. All major services like healthcare, education, higher education, electricity, water and sanitation, toll-free roads, public distribution system are funded out of the state governments' coffers but the massive portion of taxes goes to the central gubmint which provides very little services. What's worse, successive central gubmints (especially the current one and it's previous avatar) have increasingly infringed on the states' domain with impunity by coming out with preposterous countrywide populist schemes, forcing the states to implement them without giving the required financial share of the taxes. A certain party that has ruled at the centre for the vast majority of terms after 1947 also has a hidden agenda of usurping the states' powers, decision-making and financial abilities and destroying the power of constitutionally independent bodies such as the ECI, CAG, higher judiciary etc. in order to achieve their diabolical goal of permanent, unquestionable rule by the "family". I think I'll stop here before I digress further

[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by snkjr

Not really, the number of cylinders you 'purchase' is public information. LPG companies have been maintaining transparency portals with this data for quite some time now. As an example, please see http://indane.co.in/transparency/

Replying to your post since you quoted me speaking about Dhoble squads checking cylinders. If we read today's TOI Mr Dhoble has now started making rounds of resturants using illegal gas cylinders. Thats it. Wait for more Dhoble squads banging at each home door on midnight checking for cylinders. We have welcomed Nazis back!!!

[snkjr]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

Replying to your post since you quoted me speaking about Dhoble squads checking cylinders. If we read today's TOI Mr Dhoble has now started making rounds of resturants using illegal gas cylinders. Thats it. Wait for more Dhoble squads banging at each home door on midnight checking for cylinders. We have welcomed Nazis back!!!

Well if they are going after restaurants using illegal domestic gas cylinders - way to go. Checking commercial establishments is a good thing because there are so many of them breaking the law. There should be jail time for these law breakers.

[mjothi]

A interesting article about the fuel prices, losses and under-recoveries.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/16505973.cms

ofcourse, it creates more confusion than it actually clears, but worth a read

[volkman10]

Oil companies set to reduce petrol prices.

Consumers may get some relief as oil marketing companies (OMCs) plan to revise petrol prices downward due to falling international crude oil prices and a strengthening rupee

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/b...w/16523111.cms

[ravib]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Oil companies set to reduce petrol prices.



http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/b...w/16523111.cms

The reduction is probably about 77 paise or so even though rupee is strenghtening and crude oil prices drop. But when the reverse happens, the increase will be in Rupees, in the range of Rs.2 to Rs. 5 /-

So funny....

-Ravi

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Good News for Thaneites.

There's news in Loksatta (Marathi newspaper) about Thane Municipal corporation reducing the Octroi charges on the fuel prices from the present 4.5% to 0.5 % which means the prices of Petrol, Diesel & CNG would drop substanially. Petrol sells presently 78.10 in Thane and a reduction of 3+ would bring the price to 75/- approx which is lesser than that in Mumbai. . Present diesel prices are 45.47 & CNG is 34.25 in Thane.

So Thaneites can now breathe easy and not use the excuse of filling petrol in Mumbai.

Finally this is a reality with the resolution passed in the recent Thane Muncipal Corporation GB meeting to reduce the octroi charges from 4.5 to 0.5% on petroluem products. The new rates will be effective from 1st October. The price of petrol will reduce by 3.5, diesel by 2.5 and CNG by 35 paise.

Pls see the link below for details.
http://www.loksatta.com/index.php?op...0-30&Itemid=53

[libis22]

Premium fuel prices have increased.

Petrol Speed is 86 rs
HiSpeed diesel is 71 rs

Stopped filling premium petrol from today

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/...tes-hiked.html
http://articles.timesofindia.indiati...premium-diesel

[ghodlur]

Filled petrol in Thane after the price reduction yesterday, costed me 74.14 per litre, mush lesser than Mumbai (75.16). However had to wait considerably long at the pump as there was a huge line owing to the Dealer's agitation for the increased commission. The stock was replenishing fast and I was worried whether they would start rationing the fuels.