New Delhi: Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri talked about energy affordability at a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) event titled ‘Powering Amrit Kaal Through Energy Transition’ last week and extolled the virtues of affordable fuels to Indian consumers, the Business Standard reported.
He said, “India has successfully been able to modulate the effective price to consumers, thus insulating the common man from price rise and volatility in international prices.”
The minister was referring to public sector fuel retailers not hiking prices after crude oil rates had shot up globally in February 2022 due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The minister said that private sector fuel retailers were unwilling to sell petrol and diesel at the time. Public sector fuel retailers, who control the lion’s share of the fuel retail market in India and are “umbilically tied to the government”, did not hike prices as “good corporate citizens” and were selling petrol and diesel at a loss, the minister said.
“It is well known that those…(private sector) retailing stations decided that they bore no responsibility for what, I regard in a crisis situation, would be the most fundamental requirement in an economy–availability and affordability,” Puri said, adding that a large number of private sector fuel bunks had hoardings informing customers that cheaper fuel was available at outlets of public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs).
However, consumers are now overpaying for fuels after international rates of petrol and diesel crashed 40 to 50% from last year’s record levels, the Business Standard report said.
Puri said that there are signs that private sector players want to win back their lost market share Retailers now that they are no longer forced to sell petrol and diesel at a loss.
According to an Indian Express report, Jio-bp – the fuel retail joint venture of Reliance Industries and the UK’s BP plc – launched an additive-laced premium diesel at a discount to diesel sold by the OMCs.
As per petroleum ministry data, India has around 87,000 fuel retail outlets, of which around 8,300 belong to private sector players–mainly Nayara Energy and RIL (Jio-bp). Nayara Energy has close to 6,400 fuel bunks, while Jio-bp has over 1,500, the Indian Express reported.