[carboy]

Originally Posted by Gansan

Rs 1 lakh per month is your idea of poor people? I know many who make that much once every four months. They need to buy fuel too for their two wheelers, which are their main mode of mobility.

It was a typo - meant to write "1 lakh per year" - corrected here - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ml#post4999056 (The Official Fuel Prices Thread)

[PGA]

Our politicians from every hue are crorepatis, same can be said of majority of Babu's who preside over our administrative machinery, so who do you think will have empathy for man on the street that too when the elections are so far away.

[RaviK]

An unfortunate 1st for the small city where I attended my college, becoming the 1st in india to breach the 100 rs mark

https://m.timesofindia.com/business/...w/81081146.cms

Even diesel is sitting over 92 rs/ltr here while in neighboring districts of Haryana, both petrol/diesel are cheaper by 10 rs+ !! Rajasthan is one of the states where end customer is milked to the max extent by both federal and provincial governments, resulting in such atrocious prices.

[wheelguy]

Petrol at Rs 100: PM Modi says reducing import dependence

Price of petrol crossed the Rs 100 per litre mark in Rajasthan after fuel rates were hiked for the ninth day in a row. Since India imports majority of its oil needs, retail rates are benchmarked to international prices, which have spiralled in recent weeks.

New Delhi: On a day when petrol crossed the Rs 100 mark, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the middle-class would not have been burdened if the previous governments had focussed on reducing India's energy import dependence.

Without referring to the relentless increase in retail fuel prices, which are linked to international rates, he said India imported over 85 per cent of its oil needs in the 2019-20 financial year and nearly 53 per cent of its gas requirement.

"Can we be so import dependent? I don't want to criticise anyone but I want to say (that) had we focussed on this subject earlier, our middle-class would not have been burdened," he said at a function to inaugurate oil and gas projects in poll-bound Tamil Nadu.

Price of petrol crossed the Rs 100 per litre mark in Rajasthan after fuel rates were hiked for the ninth day in a row. Since India imports majority of its oil needs, retail rates are benchmarked to international prices, which have spiralled in recent weeks.

Modi said his government is sensitive to concerns of the middle-class and so has focussed on raising share of ethanol mixing in petrol.

Ethanol extracted from sugarcane will help cut imports as well as give farmers alternate source of income.

India, he said, is looking to cut energy import dependence as well as diversify its sources to reduce risks.

The focus now is also towards using renewable sources of energy, which will by 2030 form 40 per cent of energy generated in the country, he said.

Also, the government is working towards raising the share of natural gas in the energy basket to 15 per cent from the current 6.3 per cent and is committed to bringing it under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime to eliminate cascading effect of multiple taxes, he added.

Source

[srishiva]

Not sure I understand the statement about dependence on import for energy needs. What does that mean ? Being self dependent for energy ? Did we have to be running electric cars by this time since we dont have big oil reserves ?

The govt will try to find some way of increasing the cost of ownership for electric cars also when they arrive big. Sugarcane is not the right crop when there is not much water. Plus, there will be MSP issues on that too since farmers are not being paid in the first place

[lurker]

We need data analysts and those who are proficient at processing data to understand the macro and long term implications behind incessant and unnatural fuel spikes. Coupled with vigorous taxation regimes the highest fuel prices will work in favour of big corporate sector players and destroy the small and marginal players whether they be industries, farmers, logistics operators or traders. The price hikes though seemingly linked to import prices will not seem that innocent anymore when big data analysis comes through with its long term implications.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by carboy

They made a mockery of deregulation & market linked prices. Every time when oil prices went down, they increased excise duty on fuel so that the benefit of market linked price never came to the end-user. Only when oil prices go up, the fuel prices are market linked, not otherwise.

While Govt can levy any tax or cess, in this case fuel is being taxed 100% like luxury CBUs (Complete Built Up units) and seems unfair. Fuel is mass product and the entire transport industry is dependent on it. The cascading effect can be seen in increasing prices of other commodities.

Originally Posted by wheelguy

Source

Who do we blame? Our country's geography, for it is not endowed with crude oil reserves like Gulf, or hydro sources? Western scientists, for they are not able to cost effectively utilize solar power for running transport industry or invent safe mechanism to utilize nuclear energy?

[tbppjpr]

Well its not the current govt's fault, rather fault of previous govts (as usuall), says our dear PM

As petrol prices surge over Rs 100, PM Modi blames previous governments

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by tbppjpr

Well its not the current govt's fault, rather fault of previous govts (as usuall), says our dear PM

As petrol prices surge over Rs 100, PM Modi blames previous governments

The previous government was also his own government, so he is, in effect, faulting himself.

But it matters not. Ascribing faults is no solution, neither does it help in any way at all. I guess high fuel prices are here to stay. We have already gotten used to it.

[Born 2 Be Wild]

Originally Posted by tbppjpr

Well its not the current govt's fault, rather fault of previous govts (as usuall), says our dear PM

As petrol prices surge over Rs 100, PM Modi blames previous governments

Well why am i not surprised, passing the buck to someone else is what politicians know best, in reality this is the breakup of a litre of fuel as on 16/02/2021 in delhi i guess most people are smart enough to know why fuel costs so much.

[lurker]

I remember last year or it was 2019 when borders were open and petrol prices were relatively lower a dutch moto-vlogger who basically toured the whole of asia and europe on her suzuki v-strom bike was saying how expensive fuel in India was as compared to rest of the world. Those days we were in 70s for petrol.

Wonder what someone like her would say now. lol

Most probably international moto-vloggers and solo-riders would give India the pass as it's just too expensive to fill up.

[Dry Ice]

Ironical bit of news.

India sells oil to Nepal. Nepal sells it back to India at a profit.

The rising price of petrol has led to an interesting development in states which border India's neighbouring country Nepal.
...
According to Hindustan Times' sister publication Livehindustan, some people in Bihar's Araria and Kishanganj are crossing the border using narrow tracks, away from the main roads, to smuggle in the petrol.
...
While petrol is retailing at ₹93.50 per litre in Bihar's Araria, it is available at ₹70.62 in Nepal, according to Livehindustan.
...
There are many areas in interior parts of Bihar where people easily cross the border through narrow tracks. The petrol that is brought in illegally from Nepal is sold to small retailers at less price.
...

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india...628078991.html

[carboy]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Ironical bit of news.

India sells oil to Nepal. Nepal sells it back to India at a profit.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india...628078991.html

High Customs Duty on Gold created Haji Mastan - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haji_Mastan - Amitabh's Deewar is loosely based on him.

Will we see a new Petrol Haji Mastan? Oil is after all called Black Gold.

[PGA]

https://epaper.tribuneindia.com/m5/3...-2021#page/8/1

A pretty comprehensive essay on what's right and wrong with our fuel pricing mechanism. Amazing that the pricing is based on what will it take to import petrol/ diesel into India and not what is the cost of crude and refining it here. Since almost all the petrol/ diesel being used in India is now being refined by Indian refineries, as per the article, there is a case for at least 20% reduction in final cost based on expenses incurred by our state and private refiners.

[vrprabhu]

Going by the discussion, I remembered this -

When Reliance / Essar / Shell started their fuel outlets, their prices were higher than that of PSUs (difference in the range of 5 to 10% depending on the location & brand of fuel) - obviously, due to the 'subsidy' benefit being passed on through PSUs? This was about ~10 years ago.

Now, with market pricing mechanism, the prices are almost at par.

Does this imply that the basic price incurred PSUs (i.e. crude + refining + transport + overheads) is the same as that of private refiners? In other words, private sector and PSU efficiency levels are the same (despite the latter being burdened by other factors like, say, higher staffing?)

Am I missing something here?