On January 19, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan came down heavily on oil-producing countries for going slow in ramping up supplies and artificially inflating global crude prices. “A few months back we were discussing about consumption-centric economic revival, demand revival, and we are supposed to restrict our production cuts and gradually ramp up production by January — but in contradiction to that, we are now controlling oil production,” Pradhan said at an energy conference organised by the Atlantic Council. India is the third-largest consumer of energy in the world and imports 85 per cent of its crude requirement every year. Prices of the Indian crude basket have gone up from $40.66 per barrel in October to a shade under $70 per barrel today, a rise of nearly 68 per cent within six months. High oil prices have a debilitating impact on the country’s fiscal maths.
Petrol Hits A Century
Retail prices of petrol and diesel have mirrored the trend. Since October, petrol and diesel prices have gone up by over ₹10 per litre in Delhi and are at their all-time highs. It is much worse in other parts. In mid-February, petrol prices crossed the psychological ₹100-per-litre mark in Rajasthan’s Sriganganagar district. Since then, the barrier has been breached in over two dozen districts — mostly in the states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Even in Mumbai, a litre of petrol costs a high ₹97.19 (as on March 25).
This story is from the April 18, 2021 edition of Business Today.
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This story is from the April 18, 2021 edition of Business Today.
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