Explainer
India is known to import most of its oil from its international partners, making the prices reliant on what is set by other countries.
Updated : Apr 27, 2022, 03:12 PM IST | Edited by : Vaishnawi Sinha
India mostly meets its oil requirements by importing fuel from other countries. About 80% of our oil requirement is imported. Therefore, oil prices in India are majorly influenced by changes in international prices and global events.
The price of crude oil being imported to India has increased from $64.4 per barrel in April 2021 to $112.87 per barrel in March 2022, leading to a whopping 78 percent increase in the prices in the span of one year.
Further, the crude oil prices in India have increased by 33 percent from January 2022 to April 2022. However, the fuel prices in India are lower than those of other countries which do not produce their oil themselves.
Compared to countries that are more dependent on petrol imports, oil prices in India are the lowest after Turkey. Meanwhile compared to countries that are more dependent on diesel imports, oil prices in India are the lowest after Japan.
The petrol and diesel prices in Pakistan and Sri Lanka are lower than that in India. However, these low fuel prices are due to the appeasement policies of the respective government which will not be beneficial for their people in the long run.
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A total of seven states decided not to reduce the VAT on fuel prices under their jurisdiction. These states were – Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Jharkhand.