Amidst the ongoing West Asia crisis driving up crude oil prices globally, India notably kept its fuel prices stable until a slight increase on May 15. This is in contrast to other nations, which passed on escalating costs to consumers as the world grappled with rising prices.
According to government data, India is the only country in the world that has managed to maintain stable fuel prices during the first 76 days of the Hormuz disruption.
Data highlighted that the three hikes on May 15, 19 and 23 resulted in a total adjustment of slightly less than Rs 5 per litre, making it the lowest increase of any major country outside the directly subsidising Gulf producers.
“Every other major importing economy has passed on the cost to its consumers, in several cases doubling pump prices over 48 months; India has not,” it stated.
It added that the central excise component of the petrol and diesel price is the same in every state of the Union. The pump price diverges because of the value added tax that each state government separately levies.
On the other hand, the price of petrol increased by 44.5 per cent in the US, 52.4 per cent in the UAE, 54.9 per cent in Pakistan, 19.2 per cent in the UK, 16.7 per cent in Bangladesh, and 9.7 per cent in Japan between February 23 and May 23.
The government further emphasised that it has tried to safeguard consumers, repay past debts, and absorb current losses, and asserted that the opposition controls the states with the highest fuel taxes.
It also highlighted that, as a result of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, India was the only major economy in the world to have a reduction in retail fuel prices.
Furthermore, the government purchased more than Rs 1.30 lakh crore in UPA-era oil bonds and reduced the central excise on petrol and diesel four times in the last four years, which included the Russia-Ukraine war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The most recent cut alone resulted in about Rs 30,000 crore, it said.
