India’s state-owned oil retailing companies increased the prices of petrol and diesel for a ninth consecutive day on Monday, ending an 82-day-long hiatus in the rate revision since the beginning of the lockdown. The cumulative price increase since 7 June has been INR 5 for per litre of petrol (approximately $0.066) and INR 4.87 for a litre of diesel (approximately $0.64).
International prices of crude per barrel nosedived from an average of $55 in February to $35 in early March and to $20 by the end of March because of the slump in demand amid the global pandemic. The current prices of crude for the Orgnisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) basket is around $37 per barrel.
But consumers in India were not passed along the benefit of the fall in prices - instead the federal government hiked taxes on petrol and diesel to offset the tight fiscal situation. Besides federal taxes, state governments also levy local taxes or value added taxes on petroleum products.
