The small sports utility vehicle (SUV) segment - comprising models less than 4 metres in length - could witness the "maximum" growth among all categories in the coming months following the recent goods and services tax (GST) rate rationalisation, Tarun Garg, chief operating officer of Hyundai Motor India (HMIL), said.
Despite raising petrol prices by around Rs 2.95 a litre - the second-biggest increase in this calendar year so far - public and private retailers are losing Rs 50 crore a day on selling the auto fuel.
India's crude oil imports from Russia saw a marginal decline in September, but continued to account for over one-third of the country's total oil purchases, despite US pressure to curb the trade over concerns that it supports Moscow's war effort in Ukraine. India's crude imports in September were around 4.7 million barrels per day, up 220,000 bpd month-on-month and flat year-on-year.
'What the US appears to be doing is to force India to be "the buyer of last resort", on whom their products can be dumped, 1.4 billion people have to eat something, so why not eat American corn?' 'What is exercising the Trump lot is the fact that most of the farms are in solidly Republican Midwestern states: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin,' points out Rajeev Srinivasan.
'Indian refiners can operate without Russian crude from a technical standpoint, but the shift would involve major economic and strategic trade-offs'
Oil marketing companies on Friday cut petrol price by 32 paise, and diesel by 85 paise a litre with effect from midnight tonight.
An average Indian spends no more than Rs 1.3 lakh per year, according to official statistics. This is close to what an average Indian earns annually. At this level of per capita income today, one litre of petrol costs one-third of an average Indian's daily income (Delhi prices), making it highly unaffordable. People in most other Asian and emerging countries find it more affordable.
Petrol prices were on Wednesday hiked by Rs 3.07.
The revision in rates announced by Indian Oil Corp is excluding VAT and the actual change will be higher after considering them
India and the UK on Thursday inked a landmark free trade agreement (FTA) that will cut tariffs on British whisky, cars and an array of items, besides boosting bilateral trade by around $34 billion annually.
Petrol price has been cut by 58 paise a litre and diesel by 25 paise with effect from midnight tonight.
Petrol price was hiked by 30 paise per litre and diesel by 35 paise a litre, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. The seventh straight day of price hike pushed fuel rates to a new record high. The price of petrol in Delhi rose to its highest-ever level of Rs 104.44 a litre and Rs 110.41 per litre in Mumbai, the notification showed. In Mumbai, diesel now comes for Rs 101.03 a litre; while in Delhi, it costs Rs 93.17.
India, the world's third largest oil consuming and importing nation, spent 112.5 billion euro (about Rs 1.5 lakh crore) on buying crude oil from Russia since the start of the Ukraine war, a European think tank said on Thursday. The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) released a report on payments to Russia for fossil fuels since February 24, 2022. "According to our estimates, since the beginning of the war, Russia earned EUR 835 billion in revenue from fossil fuel exports," it said.
India, the world's third largest oil consuming and importing nation, bought crude oil worth 49 billion euros from Russia in the third year of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, a global think tank said. India, which has traditionally sourced its oil from the Middle East, began importing a large volume of oil from Russia soon after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Global oil prices have slumped and India has access to larger amounts of discounted Russian crude oil, yet refiners are not passing on their savings to consumers
While consumers feel that petrol pinches directly, diesel hurts indirectly, as it is an input in almost all the goods and services we use.
Gandhi said the one paisa cut in petrol rates was not a "suitable response" to the fuel challenge he threw to the prime minister a few days ago.
However, copious oil supplies amid growing global output and slowing Chinese oil consumption will put India in a better bargaining position with Gulf suppliers.
The wide-ranging sanctions imposed by the US on the Russian oil sector have started to dent near-term oil flows to India with state-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) saying not enough cargoes are available for March.
Signs of a strong pickup in hiring by companies are adding to the rosier outlook for Indian households.
Savings for Indian refiners from purchasing Russian oil have decreased to a third of what they were in the years following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which triggered global crises, sanctions, and discounted Russian oil seeking buyers. Despite this, savings from importing cheap Russian oil were significant enough to help Indian refiners tide over frozen petrol and diesel pump prices.
For now, the upside appears to offset damage done to exports by weaker global demand.
A one rupee per litre cut in taxes would result in revenues being hit by Rs 30,000 crore on an annualised basis.
India has taken up the issue of high oil prices with producer nations and OPEC, demanding affordable rates, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameswar Teli told the Lok Sabha on Monday. Petrol and diesel prices have shot up to record highs across the country after relentless price increases since early May. Petrol is retailing above Rs 100 a litre in more than a dozen states.
It is time he stood up and assured the middle class that they can count on him as one of their own, says Dr Sudhir Bisht.
Apart from this, state refiners are looking at optimising crude oil inventory levels without in any way affecting fuel supplies in the domestic market.
She charged the government with profiteering at the expense of the people, saying its duty was to help them in times of crisis and not make profits out of their hard-earned money.
India, the world's third largest oil consuming and importing nation, in July bought $2.8 billion worth of crude oil from Russia, second only to China which remains the largest importer of Russian oil, a report said. Russia emerged as India's biggest supplier of crude oil, which is converted into fuels like petrol and diesel in refineries, after Russian oil was available on discount following some European nations shunning purchases from Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
India's second-largest passenger vehicles firm will be valued at Rs 1.59 trillion at the top-end of the price band of Rs 1,865-Rs 1,960.
State-owned fuel retailers, who control 95 per cent of the petrol pump sales, sell diesel at government-fixed rates, which are way lower than the cost of production.
The company, like Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum, the two other government-owned oil marketers, sells diesel, kerosene and LPG at government regulated prices.
Privatisation of BPCL, which was dubbed India's biggest ever, has been stalled with just one bidder left in the fray after two others walked out over issues such as lack of clarity in fuel pricing, a top source said. The government had planned to sell its entire 52.98 per cent stake in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and invited Expression of Interest from bidders in March 2020. At least three bids came in by November 2020 but only one remains now after the others withdrew from the race.
After the latest spike in crude oil prices, petrol prices could potentially go up to around Rs 90 a litre making a dent in the consumer's wallet. This, the analysts fear, will push the cost of vehicle ownership in the country, further reducing the demand potential for the industry.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday invited President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to visit India and the Ukrainian leader said he would be happy to travel to the 'great' country.
India, the world's third-biggest oil consumer, has conveyed to OPEC countries its concern over high oil prices that are threatening to impact the nascent economic recovery after the devastating pandemic. New Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has made phone calls to key OPEC nations to convey the desire for an affordable price for consumers. After calling his counterparts in Qatar and the UAE, he called Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) kingpin Saudi Arabia on Thursday evening.
Narendra Modi's landslide victory gives him the mandate to deregulate diesel prices as well as raise natural gas rates with a clear road map towards free pricing to cut subsidies and shrink the budget deficit.
'What has taken the government so long to understand what the people of this country are going through?'
One of the reasons is that the retail prices are not bench-marked to crude but their respective international benchmark prices.
India's appetite for imported crude oil may wane in fiscal year (FY) 2023 from record levels in pre-pandemic 2019-20 fiscal as higher oil prices, a spillover from the conflict in Ukraine, and increasing use of biofuels affect domestic demand for petroleum products. Brent crude surged to a nine-year high, shy of a July 2008 record $147.50 a barrel, before declining to around $100 a barrel - but the volatility in commodity rates will slow global economic growth and use of fuels. Demand for all oil products may grow at only 2-3 per cent in FY23, slower than the current fiscal and nearly half the 5.5 per cent growth estimated by the petroleum ministry, according to industry officials.
Officials from State-run refiners contend that savings from purchase of Russian oil are used to offset a part of the losses in revenues from selling transport fuels and LPG at State-set rates.
