Euro IV Introduced, Fuel Prices Rise

With Euro-IV grade fuel being made available from today, the petrol and diesel prices will be hiked by around 50 paise each from April 1 onwards in the city, with the price of petrol reaching Rs. 53.63 from Rs. 53.08, and that of diesel reaching Rs. 39.17 from Rs. 38.90.

Along with Hyderabad; Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and 8 other major cities are all set to switch over to European IV grade fuel from April 1. According to the Supreme Court's mandate, the remaining parts of the country will move to Euro-III grade fuel. rates will depend on local taxes.

Since Euro-IV and Euro-III petrol and diesel are superior fuels, their production has required huge capital investments, besides higher operating costs. The fuel price hike aims to recover approximately Rs. 40,000 crore that oil companies had invested in upgrading their refineries to produce greener fuel.

Euro-IV grade auto fuel prescribes to European emission standards that define acceptable limits for vehicle exhaust emissions for member states of the European Union. It is less polluting since it restricts the presence of sulphur in the fuel: sulphur is present in 50 parts per million (ppm), as opposed to sulphur in 550-350 ppm as sold in earlier fuels.