New Delhi, June 24 (IANS) Over a month after petrol prices were hiked, the government Friday raised the price of diesel by Rs.3 a litre, cooking gas by Rs.50 a cylinder and kerosene by Rs.2 a litre. Petroleum Minister S. Jaipal Reddy described it as "a minimal increase”.

 
 The hike works out to 7.9 percent for diesel, 14.4 percent for LPG and the highest - 22 percent - in the case of kerosene.
 
 Reddy said a “minimal increase” had been decided in prices of the three petro-products to stop the oil marketing companies from bleeding from massive under-recoveries.
 
 “The price of diesel will be raised by Rs.3 per litre, PDS kerosene by Rs.2 per litre and LPG by Rs.50 per cylinder,” Reddy told reporters.
 
 He made the announcement after the meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers (eGoM), headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee here.
 
 On May 14, oil marketing companies had increased the price of petrol, which has been de-controlled, by Rs.5 per litre - its steepest hike ever.
 
 Oil marketing companies suffer losses of Rs.13.72 per litre of diesel, Rs.26.16 per litre of kerosene and Rs.381.14 per LPG cylinder. Therefore, on a daily basis, Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum, incur a total loss of Rs.456 crore on the sale of the three petro-products.
 
 The current hike comes just a day after the government announced that India's food inflation had soared to a nearly 10-week high of 9.13 percent for the week ended June 11.