The fuel cash cow

Govt must ensure greater transparency in fuel pricing

Fuel prices were raised again by the oil-marketing companies (OMCs) on Monday. This makes nine price increases in succession since the daily price revision system was re-introduced earlier this month after a gap of over 80 days. During that period, two major changes occurred: First, the global price of crude oil crashed on weak demand, and although it has since recovered to around $40 a barrel, it is still down almost 40 per cent year-on-year. The second change was the increase in fuel taxes by the government. Duties and various types of cess were increased by over Rs 10 per