RBI eases lending norms to oil companies. The government looked set to raise petrol and diesel prices by Rs 3-4 a litre and Rs 2 a litre respectively this weekend to curtail losses of state-owned oil firms even as the Reserve Bank of India extended them a helping hand by easing borrowing limits. Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi this evening, is believed to have discussed the proposal for a retail fuel price rise that is being pushed for by the petroleum ministry.