How Fuel & Bullion Prices Are Set in India
Retail fuel and bullion prices in India are not set by a single authority. A pump price and a jeweller's rate are each built from several layers, and those layers explain almost every question people ask about why a rate is what it is.
What a fuel price is made of
A petrol or diesel price is a stack, not a single figure. The base is the refinery gate price, which follows international crude oil. On top sit the central excise duty, the dealer commission that pays the pump operator, and the freight needed to move the product from the depot to the outlet.
The last layer is the one that makes one state different from its neighbour: state VAT or sales tax, which each state government sets for itself. Two cities a hundred kilometres apart can show noticeably different pump prices for exactly this reason, and no central announcement changes it. Retailers have very little room to undercut one another, which is why prices across a single city are almost always identical.
When prices change
Under the daily revision system, petrol and diesel prices in India are reviewed every morning at 6 am. Oil marketing companies publish the new rate, pumps update their boards, and that figure holds for the rest of the day. Stations cannot legally charge more than the published rate, and a pump found doing so is answerable to the district administration.
LPG cylinder prices, CNG and PNG do not follow that daily cycle. LPG is revised periodically — often monthly — and CNG and piped gas are set by the local city gas distributor, so their movements are smaller and less frequent.
How gold and silver rates are set
The rupee price of bullion is built from four layers: the international spot price, quoted in US dollars per troy ounce; the rupee-dollar exchange rate, where a weaker rupee raises the local price even when the global price is flat; the import duty on the landed value; and the GST that applies when you buy.
On top of those, a jeweller adds making charges for the work that goes into a piece. That is why two shops can quote the same daily rate and still show different final bills. The figure we publish is the metal value — the number to compare one jeweller against another, before wastage and making charges are added.
Bullion benchmarks are published each working morning and jewellers reprice shortly after. Rates do not move on Sundays or major festival days, and they do not move minute to minute the way share prices do.
Why the same commodity costs different amounts in different cities
For fuel, the answer is almost always tax. Central excise duty is uniform nationwide, but state VAT and local levies are not, and transport adds a smaller amount on top. For bullion the national rate is the same, but local jeweller premia and making charges differ — which is why the bill at the counter can vary even when the headline rate does not.
Practical ways to spend less
- Tyre pressure is the cheapest fuel saving there is. Under-inflated tyres raise rolling resistance, and the penalty shows up at the pump rather than anywhere you would notice.
- Air conditioning is the biggest single load on a small engine. On short city runs, using the fan instead of the compressor makes a measurable difference over a tank.
- Stop-start traffic is where fuel goes. Combining errands into one trip, and travelling before the peak rather than during it, does more for your monthly bill than any additive on the shelf.
- Keep a rough record of what you spend each month. A note in your phone turns a price rise from an annoyance into a number you can plan around.
- For bullion, buy on the rate rather than the discount, insist on BIS hallmarking for gold, and ask for an invoice that separates weight, purity, making charges and GST.
How we source and publish these rates
Every rate published on IndiRate.in is stored with the date it applied to, which is what makes our daily and monthly history possible. We do not back-fill figures we did not record, and we do not invent a movement to make a trend look livelier. Rates are compiled from official oil marketing company notifications, city gas distribution utilities, and bullion market sources such as the India Bullion and Jewellers Association (IBJA).
If a rate here ever disagrees with the board at your local pump or the price at the counter, that source is the one that governs what you pay — tell us and we will correct our record.