Theme:

  • The Russia-Ukraine war increased fuel prices in many countries including India.

Reasons for the high fuel prices in India:

  • Petrol and diesel pricing depends on several factors. Final retail price = crude oil price (international price of crude oil) + refinery charges + transport charges + dealers’ commission + Central Excise Duty (Imposed by Central government) + Value Added Tax (VAT) & surcharges (Imposed by state government).

    One of the main reasons for the high fuel prices is high taxes by central and state governments (Central Excise duty + VAT & surcharges). As of March 2022, approx half of the price we pay for petrol goes to central and state governments as taxes. India is one of the most highly fuel-taxed countries in the world. The government explained that this revenue is needed to spend on welfare schemes.

  • Petrol and diesel are still not in the ambit of GST (Goods & Services Tax). If they come under GST, taxes on taxes will be avoided and hence the retail prices will be reduced.
  • The efficiency of petroleum refineries in India is one of the worst in the world. This is contributing to the price rise of petrol and diesel.
  • India is third in the top countries that use crude oil after the USA & China. But the problem is that India does not have many oil reserves. Over 80% of the crude oil for our fuel needs is imported. So, import costs will be added to the final price. There is a lack of investment in the exploration of crude oil reserves within the country.
  • As the Rupee value is depreciating, oil refineries have to pay more rupees to import crude oil. This is also one of the reasons why fuel prices are high.
  • Saudi Arabia-led OPEC+ alliance (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) decided to cut production in the year 2020 to prevent the fall of crude oil prices during the pandemic. They also decided to gradually increase output to reach the pre-pandemic supply level. So, less supply and more demand result in high prices.
  • Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the year 2022 resulted in several sanctions on Russia. So, many countries are not importing crude oil from Russia. This further reduced the supply of crude oil and resulted in an increase in prices.
Also Read :  One year of GST

Consequences of high fuel prices:

  • High petrol and diesel prices contribute to higher transportation costs and hence increases in the prices of essential commodities such as vegetables, rice, pulses etc. This is a big burden on commoners who are already facing job losses, low income due to pandemic.
  • High fuel prices increase the prices of commodities and thereby can cause inflation.
  • As people pay more for essential commodities, they may not easily buy other non-essential goods. So, that results in fewer sales for many businesses and that leads to an economic slowdown.

What needs to be done:

  • Reducing taxes on petroleum products will result in a reduction in costs of transport and thereby reduces the price of many consumer goods. This will help markets and the economy and also reduces the burden on common people.
  • Instead of depending on these taxes on petrol & diesel, the Indian government needs to create more revenue sources such as increasing the number of people that pay income tax, recovering bad loans of public sector banks etc.
  • More and more people are buying their own vehicles, especially after witnessing the pandemic and hence the demand for petrol and diesel is increasing and thereby the pressure on foreign exchange reserves and ‘Trade deficit‘ are increasing. This will further lower the value of the rupee. To reduce the dependence on crude oil imports, there is a need to invest in the exploration of crude oil reserves in the country. Moreover, alternative energy resources such as solar energy, wind energy should be encouraged and promoted.
  • There is a dire need to encourage people to use electric vehicles and to use renewable energy resources. This will reduce the burden on foreign exchange reserves as well as leads us towards eco-friendly living.
Also Read :  Taliban rule in Afghanistan - Impact on India

Conclusion:

Due to the high fuel prices, there will be a huge burden on people whether they own a vehicle or not. Because high fuel prices increase the cost of transport and thereby increases the prices of consumer goods. To avoid that situation, the government needs to work on reforms in petroleum pricing.

Your Turn…

What is your opinion on this topic? Express your thoughts in the comment section below. Subscribe to our blog to read answers to trending GD topics.


Copyright @ Group Discussion Ideas.


Want to listen to this instead?

Subscribe to our YouTube channel. We upload videos on GD topics regularly.

Purpose: , , ,

22 Comments

  • Shivam Kumar, Aug 2, 2022 @ 8:26 pm Reply

    Hi friends. Acc to my opinion to that the price of petroleum increasing day by day because covid in 2020 change economy chain all over the world .and some countries face problems from Russia and Ukraine crisis .so that supply chain disturbing and other reasons is that revenue tax ,service tax and transport tax ,and state tax increased .if price of fuel decrease so every peope taken an action .is that minimum use of petroleum in important work not to be for distroy and 2nd point us that use cng and electric vehicles aftee that effect on it . thank u all

  • Harsh, Dec 30, 2020 @ 1:09 pm Reply

    Government is imposing high taxes so as to discourage people on usage of petroleum products and make the public move towards renewable energy sources and electric vehicles. So does these alternatives come by themselves or isn’t it the govt. responsibility to generate these. Our govt. is fast on imposing taxes but nothing praiseworthy has been done in fields of renewable energy sources or bringing electric vehicles in India. the govt. can work on bringing new revenue sources .But i guess that’s just too hard for our government as they are already preoccupied with printing bucks for themselves( no particular government is refered here).

  • Aryan Vinay, Dec 23, 2020 @ 12:32 pm Reply

    According to my point of view,it is as good as bad.Becouse increasing the price of petroleum then also increasing the price of all things.so poor people will faced of high price of anything.But it saw the other hand if price increases then then price of vehicle also increases.then all people not keep our personal vehicle then pollution will be also decreases.

    • Sahil Prajapati, Jul 6, 2022 @ 11:39 am Reply

      Aryan in that case the richer are getting more richer and also poor are getting more poor. Its only and lagerly affects the Middle class. Who is both depend and not depend on the goverment directly and indirectly .

  • narendra laguri, Oct 25, 2018 @ 9:25 pm Reply

    price hike is good some what but its cost should not increase exponentially. advantages of price hike are,getting more tax and use it for infrastructure development like school, college , road, hospital etc.people will be discouraged to buy more vehicles which ultimately reduce air pollution and they will use public transportation. people will less dependent on oil by using the electric vehicle .so that our foreign exchange reserve will become strong and ultimately our rupee will be strong.

  • Ks durai, Oct 13, 2018 @ 11:43 am Reply

    Join group discussion

  • Nikkeswaran R, Oct 10, 2018 @ 8:56 pm Reply

    It is very useful thank you.

  • puja sinha, Sep 18, 2018 @ 8:29 pm Reply

    people should be encouraged to opt for car and two vehicle pooling, which will reduce the use and dependence on fuel and ultimately it will reduce the amount we spent on its import.

  • SACHIN CHAUHAN, Sep 18, 2018 @ 12:16 am Reply

    In past few days, Petrol and Diesel price are at the peak and becoming history. Govt claimed that they are not at all responsible for hike in fuel price. Although Major part of fuel price comprises of various taxed being levied by Central & State Govt.
    One of the measure to reduce the fuel cost is that the central Govt should reduce taxes on crude oil and royalty payment etc as well as respective state govt should cut in vat rate levied thus it would reduce the fuel price to some extent.
    Second measure is that govt should encourage the uses of Electric driven vehicle that would reduce the dependency/import of crude oil also help in diminish the air pollution as well. To move in this direction, Govt is now planing the 100% electrification of railway network by 2021-22 which will reduce the fuel cost bill by 13510 Cr per year. Also Govt is now planning to setup ethanol plant due to which petrol and diesel cost reduce to Rs 55/litre.
    In India 25% of Crude is explored and produced by Nation Upstream companies and remaining 75% crude oil are imported for which India have to repatriate in foreign currency. Hence to reduce the burden on Forex reserve and pollution, people of india should use EV/Bio fuel as an alternative and Govt should also take concrete step in this regards.

  • Tinku paul, Jun 1, 2018 @ 7:31 am Reply

    According to me high fuel prices in India -first of all populations are increasing day by day as well as vehicles are increasing day by day as a result huge demand. Secondly taxes is very high in fuel prices of central government and state government. Last 15 days fuel prices has been increased and yesterday it has been dipped one paise . Peoples life is getting miserable as not only fuel prices increase , indirectly all the daily essential prices has been increased because of transportation charges. Petrol is the item everybody has to purchase there is no alternative.Yes nowadays battery operated vehicles are there but you can’t compare with petrol vehicle. I want to share my personal experience – I had purchased a battery operated two wheeler it costs 32000/- but it was after one year Battery has got damage and the battery was available in the market but if I purchase then I have to purchase four battery ,it costs 12000/- it was not possible for me after in year to spend 12000/- then I have decided I will sale this one and I have sold this one 10000/- so after one year I have loss 22000/- then I have purchased one petrol operated two wheeler last eight years it has been running thee is no problem. So central government and state government both has to take to action to reduce the taxes and infrastructure of the oil refinery and reservation capacity.

  • sandip sinha, May 14, 2018 @ 9:37 pm Reply

    HIGH FUEL PRICES IN INDIA
    —————————————–
    The high fuel prices is not only affecting the day to day life of many people but also thriving people to use of alternative sources of fuel.
    i think one of the main reason for increasing fuel prices is up growing demand of its usage.”NOW PEOPLE ARE MORE FASHIONABLE TO USE MULTI-BRAND VEHICLES RATHER THAN USING PUBLIC
    TRANSPORTATION”.THIS RESULTS DAY TO DAY TRAFFIC CONGESTION ,UPRISING DEMAND OF FUEL USAGE AND ALSO POLLUTION.
    For getting its solution ,following
    steps may be useful:
    >Govt should encourage people to use public transportation in their working hours.
    >their should be a positive approach for the usage of battery driven and electric-hybrid vehicle as the mode of transportation.this also reduces petrol/diesel dependency.
    >many reputed automobiles companies should design their products as per the use of least fuel demands and better efficiency.
    >Its time to change the dependency on diesel/petrol and approve bio-diesel as alternative fuel.

    Lastly high fuel price only be fixed by attaining alternative solution to meet ongoing demand,introducing fuel reservation infrastructure and also must have public awareness of using vehicles.

    • amratlal, Jul 26, 2018 @ 8:12 pm Reply

      agree with Tinku regarding cost of replacement of battery. Just like in many so called advance countries they are cutting coat by sending utility bills by internet instead of paper bill, putting charges for creating bills. Customers have to bare costs of all the equipment’s and line rental / service charges.
      Instead of depending on the taxes on petrol & diesel, Indian government needs to create more revenue sources and go bit hard on those who deliberately try to avoid such taxes, for example fiddling with electricity meters and charging more for government service to cover bribing the officers concerned.

  • Abhishek trivedi, May 13, 2018 @ 9:58 am Reply

    there is need to trace the well of crude oil in outskirts of india , we need to focus much more on conventional energy methods and india has potential to spend money on discovering, rather than importing it from gulf countries

    • Team GD Ideas, May 14, 2018 @ 7:22 am Reply

      Well said!

  • snehahshree priyadarsini, May 12, 2018 @ 3:07 pm Reply

    Increase in the fuel prices is hampering the entire youth. if electrification is initiated, implementation will be done in years. previously also the same taxes had been implemented but the price ws still linient. but now, more taxes is being processed which leads to high price. There would be a time where we would pay Rs.100 for a litre of petrol

    • Team GD Ideas, May 14, 2018 @ 7:28 am Reply

      True! There should be more efforts and incentives to encourage electric vehicles, so that it will not take much time to reduce the dependence on fuel.

      • amratlal, Jul 26, 2018 @ 8:17 pm Reply

        Also replacement and maintenance costs be considered.

  • Deshabhimani, May 10, 2018 @ 9:28 pm Reply

    The government has to put some investment in developing public transport system to attract public to choose over their private ones. And we public should support it, simply because we in a society, sharing the common mother nature.

  • yogesh sharma, May 10, 2018 @ 10:48 am Reply

    If the govt.focus on complete electrification of Indian railways rather than focusing on high speed it will be a +point in reducing the fuel prices

    • Team GD Ideas, May 14, 2018 @ 7:39 am Reply

      That’s a good point!

  • P. Kolandasamy, Puducherry, May 10, 2018 @ 7:38 am Reply

    Fuel has been a threat for environment, economy, health and social life. People have to practice natural ways as walking, cycling and group/public transport etc. It is awareness, very much essential.

    • amratlal, Jul 26, 2018 @ 8:20 pm Reply

      This is bit difficult as population and area of cities, towns and villages has increased and still increasing.

Leave a Reply to Tinku paul Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *