Immediate fuel price hike unlikely; govt comfortable with $100 crude

The last excise duty cut by the Centre was in November 2021, ahead of elections in five key states, including Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.

With benchmark crude oil prices hovering around $100 a barrel, oil marketing companies (OMCs) are unlikely to raise retail prices of petrol and diesel.

Senior policymakers told Business Standard that the government is comfortable with crude prices at below $100 and even if international prices go above that level for short spans of time, the OMCs can absorb it.

“Just 10 days ago, analysts were saying crude would cross $140. Now it is below $100. So you see the situation in Europe is very uncertain. We do not know what will happen a month or six months from now,” said a top