No immediate relief for motorists: Govt hints petrol, diesel price reduction only when crude oil rates stabilise

Since Nayara Energy, the biggest private fuel retailer in India, reduced petrol and diesel prices across the country, the speculation around the possibilities of the state-run oil marketing companies reducing fuel prices has been high. Nayara Energy reduced petrol prices by ₹5 per litre and diesel by ₹3 per litre across India just a few days ago, bringing down the fuel cost to the March 2026 level. However, the state-run fuel retailers, including IOCL, BPCL, and HPCL, which combined control over 90% of the market, are yet to announce any such move despite the crude oil price in the international market having gone down. Now, speaking on this, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, stated that petrol and diesel price cuts would become a legitimate question only if global crude oil prices stabilise at their current levels for the next few weeks, though he maintained it was too early to speculate on an immediate price reduction.

Puri said that the state-run oil marketing companies had previously absorbed massive financial shocks to insulate consumers from global market volatility during the Middle East crisis. "Oil marketing companies had incurred losses and under-recoveries of ₹74,781 crore by selling petrol, diesel, and LPG below cost. So the actual loss and under-recovery are both very high," the minister said.

However, noting the recent softening in international energy markets, Puri added, “If crude prices remain at these levels for the next few weeks, cutting petrol and diesel prices will be a legitimate question that everybody asks. But what the situation will be then, it is not right for me to speculate."

In May this year, the oil marketing companies increased the price of petrol and diesel across India in multiple steps, citing the global crude oil price hike as a reason due to the Middle East conflict. The prices of petrol and diesel were increased by around ₹7.50 per litre across India. Not only petrol and diesel, but also the cost of CNG was increased. These fuel price hikes propelled the cost of ownership for motorists and impacted vehicle sales across India.

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