Companies became villains in the prices of petrol and diesel: crude oil became cheaper by $ 7.3, if the price is reduced, then petrol would cost Rs 8. can come down

The profiteering of government oil companies is once again taking a toll on our pockets. Crude oil (crude) prices decreased in December. Accordingly, if the companies had reduced the price, then petrol would have been cheaper by Rs 8 and diesel by Rs 7 per liter. Just before Diwali, the central government had reduced the excise duty on petrol by Rs 5/litre, while that on diesel by Rs 10/litre. Most states also reduced VAT. This led to a slight reduction in the prices of petrol and diesel.

After this, due to international developments, crude oil prices started coming down. Crude stood at $73.30/barrel in December against $80.64 in November. The prices of petrol and diesel in the country are fixed daily. In such a situation, when it came time to reduce the prices, instead of giving relief to the people, the government companies got involved in profiteering.

Prashant Vashisht, vice president of rating agency Icra and expert on petroleum affairs, says- ‘The purpose of the price review was that if the prices of crude rise, then the prices of petrol and diesel should increase, if the crude is cheap then the price should decrease. Sometimes the prices are reduced due to political reasons, which the companies make up for later.

Companies are earning profit from us like this

Petrol and diesel expensive even though crude oil is cheap
When crude oil became cheaper by $3.74/barrel in August, companies made petrol cheaper by only 65 paise. At the same time, when crude oil became costlier by $3.33/barrel in September, petrol was made costlier by Rs.3.85/litre. Crude oil prices decreased slightly in November, but petrol prices kept rising. The last cut in petrol prices was on September 5 by only 15 paise.

Rahul Gandhi tweeted the news of Dainik Bhaskar and demanded the government to reduce the price of petrol and diesel.

Corporate profits increased by 20 times
Looking at the September quarter results of oil companies IOCL, BPCL and HPCL, their profit before tax has increased by 20 times from the pre-covid level. IOCL’s profit was Rs 395 crore in September-2019, which increased to Rs 8370 crore in September 2021.