In the Lakshadweep islands, the cost of both petrol and diesel has dropped by as much as Rs 15 per litre as a result of the Indian Oil Corporation removing a cost factor that had been in place to pay the cost of building specific infrastructure to carry fuel to the far-flung islands. 

According to information from IOC, the oil ministry announced in a post on X that the prices of gasoline and diesel have dropped by Rs 15.3 per litre in Andrott and Kalpeni islands and Rs 5.2 per litre in Kavaratti and Minicoy in Lakshadweep islands.

Following photographs of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the islands that went viral on social media on January 24, the administration announced within weeks that it was working to develop Lakshadweep as a tourist destination to offset the Maldives amid deteriorating diplomatic relations.

The price of petrol has been reduced in Kavaratti and Minicoy to Rs 100.75 per litre from Rs 105.94 and in Andrott and Kalpeni to Rs 100.75 per litre from Rs 116.13. Similarly, the price of diesel has been reduced from Rs 110.91 to Rs 95.71 per litre in Kavaratti and Minicoy and from Rs 111.04 to Rs 95.71 in Andrott and Kalpeni.

Four islands in Lakshadweep—Kavaratti, Minicoy, Andrott, and Kalpeni—are receiving petrol and diesel fuel from IOC. The product for IOC's depots in Kavaratti and Minicoy is supplied by the IOC depot in Kochi, Kerala.

Due to extremely low and unprofitable volumes, this component, which costs Rs 6.90 per litre, was added to the price increase of both petrol and diesel in order to recoup capital expenditures incurred in the depots at Kavaratti and Minicoy on the Lakshadweep islands.

In a post on X, Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri expressed gratitude to IOC "for providing the people of Lakshadweep with the advantages of completing the cost recovery of capital expenditure and inter-island price rationalization by lowering fuel prices."

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