[Naturalist]

Some organization/individual has submitted a law suit in Kerala to show all the accounting information to be audited. All the 3 companies have been challenged to show the loss on paper.

We really cant comment by sitting here, there may be so many uncertainities which we are not aware of. I think the thread should be closed.

[msdivy]

Oil companies also clarified that petrol prices in India are indexed to Singapore gasoline rates.

State-run oil firms to revise petrol prices every two weeks - The Economic Times

No idea why fuel price in India must follow Singapore, which has the highest rate in the region. Comparison of petrol prices (as in early 2011), adjusted to Indian rupee:

Source: Comparison of Global Petrol Prices across the world with India

[aaron.d]

All said and done, can anyone suggest how we tackle this issue? The media seems to only report the changes in prices can we do anything to get the governments attention?

[msdivy]

Govt is not just selling an essential commodity, they are making profit on it !

Petrol prices spell windfall for govt - The Times of India

Indirect taxes on petroleum fetched the exchequer Rs 1 lakh crore in 2010-11, a jump of 43% or over Rs 30,000 crore from the previous year.

The government's earnings from dividends and royalty payouts as well as profit petroleum from private oil contractors was a sizeable Rs 20,000 crore in the fiscal ending March 31, 2011.

[basky]

Originally Posted by Naturalist

We really cant comment by sitting here, there may be so many uncertainities which we are not aware of. I think the thread should be closed.

There are many uncertainties and lack of transparency in govt action. The purpose of these fora will be to give a feedback to the babus in power of what the motoring public feel - I am sure that TBHP will be monitored. The sad part is that our opinion rarely counts in the politics of expediency. What is worse is how all the money collected in the form direct and indirect tax is mostly frittered away or plain looted.

[msdivy]

More information revealed by Govt. Nepal being land-locked, does not have a refinery and imports all its requirement from India. Petrol price in Nepal is Rs 65.26 per litre. While its Rs 66.42 a litre in Delhi.

Other regions:
US: Rs 44.88
Pakistan: Rs 48.64
Sri Lanka: Rs 61.38
Bangladesh: Rs 52.42
UK: Rs 104.60 per litre.

Tax on petrol:
Delhi: Rs 26.59 (both central excise and local sales tax or VAT).
US: Rs 5.32 per litre tax on petrol
UK: Rs 62.47 a litre tax

(all in INR)

Source: Petrol in India costlier than in US - The Economic Times

[ananth_iy]

Here is a detailed report from "The Hindu" today on how petrol prices are arrived at and needless to say it is most shocking!!!

Also, the highlight of this article is that there is no loss (as we always knew) - the Govt never calls it a loss - it is an "under recovery" which means nothing in terms of profit and loss. It is basically the difference between the notional value of petrol and what they are charging for it - completely ridiculous.

The Hindu : News / National : What goes down will surely go up

[Jignesh]

Hello,

I realise that there are couple of threads running on Fuel Prices & recent reduction in Petrol Price in Goa. I have started this new thread as this applies to Petrol in general in entire country & what if State Governments create other sources of Income & give relief to Petrol consumers?

Still if moderators feel this new thread is not required, kindly merge this with other Fuel Price threads.

I refer to article in today's Times of India:
Petrol could cost Rs 15 less if Delhi follows Goa's lead - The Times of India

Which quotes Pranab Mukherjee's speech in parliament yesterday: "Price without tax - I am taking Delhi city - per litre of petrol price would be Rs 39, diesel would be Rs 33.51. The Central government does not have any tax. Some states have some tax, that is 4.8%; but Centre has no tax. If the excise duty, customs duty and state VAT taken together, it comes to Rs 26.55.

The articles also point out to VAT Rates in some cities which is astonishing:
Delhi - 20%
Pondicherry: 15%
Andhra Pradesh: 33%

Now comes the most suprising fact:
State-run fuel retailers actually sell the fuel to dealers at Rs 38.42 a litre. This, one could say, is the price of the product after paying for refining, transporting and other sundry costs as well as giving allowance for loss from evaporation.

Add to above Rs. 1.5 to Rs. 2 as Dealer Margin, which means that almost Rs. 27 to Rs. 33 per litre of Petrol goes as Taxes, Duties & Levies to Government.

I do understand that Tax on Fuel is major source of Income for State Governments & they cannot reduce this to zero (like in case of Goa). But shall we not get a uniform regime where Petrol is Taxed at same rate in all the States (just like Maximum Retail Price of Salt & Biscuits is uniform across India) & also when Crude Price flares up in International market, State Governments should atleast temporarily reduce that Taxes so that common man is not shocked by Rs. 5 per Litre Petrol price hike.

Also in long run, as we all know that International Crude Prices are not going to go below USD 100 per Barrel (thanks to Futures & Options markets), should Goverments plan for generating additional sources of Income & gradually reduce Taxes in Petrol?

I am throwing this debate open & invite fellow Team-BHP members view on this matter.

Thanks,

Mod Note: Thread merged with existing discussion on the same topic. Please search the forums before starting a new thread.

[coolclouds]

Hope it may discussed here:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...s-reduced.html

[ottocycle]

VAT rate in Andhra 33% :(. That is the reason for sky rocketing fuel prices here. 73.08 is the current price. Shell prices are highest here in the country i.e. 83.xx Rs.

[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

Hope it may discussed here:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...s-reduced.html

Hello Coolclouds,

That thread is only for fuel price reduction in Goa. What I am trying to bring out here is that the fact that Central Govt has imposed no Tax on Fuel. Almost all the Tax we pay on Petrol (& Deisel) is levied by various State Governments. Do the State Governments have only Fuel as their source of Income? Rs. 30 as Taxes on Petrol whose Dealer Price is less than Rs. 40 is clear a day light robbery.

Originally Posted by ottocycle

VAT rate in Andhra 33% :(. That is the reason for sky rocketing fuel prices here. 73.08 is the current price. Shell prices are highest here in the country i.e. 83.xx Rs.

Hello Ottocyle,

I understand the frustration. 33% VAT on Petrol in Andhra Pradesh is really unjustified. We (in Mumbai) too feel the same because moment we cross Mumbai's 5 Toll Booths & petrol is cheaper by approx Re. 1. This is because we have to pay octroi on Fuel in Mumbai.

That is why I have mentioned of a uniform Tax rate of Tax on Fuel in India. May be implementation of GST will solve this issue, but that will by no means bring lower fuel prices.

Thanks,

[ACM]

The constitution has mandated certain aspects of governance as State Subjects and we can have unform implementation of any aspect of governance only in centrally managed subjects. Hence I guess we will need to live with different fuel prices across India based only how a particular state views the topic.

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by Jignesh

Which quotes Pranab Mukherjee's speech in parliament yesterday: "Price without tax - I am taking Delhi city - per litre of petrol price would be Rs 39, diesel would be Rs 33.51. The Central government does not have any tax

I think this is a non sequitur. Excise and customs duty charged by the central government is also a form of tax collected which is ultimately passed on to the end consumer by the oil companies. So to claim that the center doesn't charge any tax is bordering on I feel dishonesty. Would be interesting to do an analysis of how big a hole would state exchequers have if all of the states abolished the state tax to start with

[shankar.balan]

Karnataka State started charging extra taxes on Fuel and on vehicles more than 10 years ago. Ostensibly to build proper infrastructure for the state.

In reality, while they have done some decent work, they still have a very long way to go. I cannot understand their inefficiency levels because projects here appear to take immense amounts of time for the simplest thing, which are done so much faster in other states.

Overall, its a lovely state to live in but unfortunately is being held back terribly by the typical scummy "snout in the trough" mentality of its parochial, short sighted, useless and corrupt politicos.

I dont think that Karnataka State will roll back any of these taxes on Fuel or Vehicles because if they do, there will be that much less for the "snout in the trough" lot to eat and this will not be appreciated by the said critturs.

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

I think this is a non sequitur. Excise and customs duty charged by the central government is also a form of tax collected which is ultimately passed on to the end consumer by the oil companies. So to claim that the center doesn't charge any tax is bordering on I feel dishonesty. Would be interesting to do an analysis of how big a hole would state exchequers have if all of the states abolished the state tax to start with

[antz.bin]

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

I think this is a non sequitur. Excise and customs duty charged by the central government is also a form of tax collected which is ultimately passed on to the end consumer by the oil companies. So to claim that the center doesn't charge any tax is bordering on I feel dishonesty. Would be interesting to do an analysis of how big a hole would state exchequers have if all of the states abolished the state tax to start with

You guys might want to read this thread.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...-analysis.html

This is the price analysis of
1. Diesel, Kerosene and LPG in Delhi as on 7th March 2012

2. Petrol & Diesel in Delhi just before New Year: