KATHMANDU, Jan 31: The Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has agreed to increase the commission paid to petroleum dealers. This comes after the dealers pressed NOC to increase the commission of diesel and petrol by about 36 paisa per liter. The dealers had stated that it was difficult to sustain their business with prior commission rate.
According to Binit Mani Upadhyaya, spokesperson of NOC, the previous commission rate was increased to 3.395 percent for petrol after adding 0.395 percent and 3.12 percent for diesel after an increase of 0.47 percent per liter. Previously, the commission was 3 percent on petrol and 2.65 percent on diesel. Entrepreneurs had announced to sell petrol and diesel by adding 50 paisa per liter if the corporation did not increase the price.
The dealers said that it was difficult to run the business as the commission had not been increased for a long time. The NOC has stated that the commission has been increased based on scientific criteria after discussing with the representatives from Nepal Petroleum Dealers’ National Association (NPDNA).
Petroleum dealers announce to raise fuel price unilaterally
The NOC determines the price of gasoline by adding the commission paid to the petrol pump operators. After the commission, the price of petrol and diesel is expected to increase by an average of 0.36 percent.
The dealers had demanded 4 percent commission on diesel and 4.5 per cent on petrol. Lilendra Pradhan, president of the NPDNA, an association of petrol pump entrepreneurs, said that the commission increased by the corporation is “still insufficient”. “We will accept the decision for now.” There are about 1,500 petrol pumps across the country. They sell about 4.8 million liters of diesel and 1.5 million liters of petrol per day.
