The country has sufficient crude oil reserves for 78 days, a parliamentary panel was told Monday, sources said.
India's maritime trade, especially in the energy sector, has been hit after the West Asia war broke out on February 28, disrupting ship movement in the Strait of Hormuz. A large portion of India's fuel supplies came from the Gulf and West Asian countries.
The Strait has remained largely shut to tanker traffic for weeks, pushing oil prices sharply higher and intensifying fears of another inflationary shock globally.
Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism, and Culture, chaired by Janata Dal (United) leader Sanjay Kumar Jha, met today to discuss 'Implications of the West Asia Crisis on India's Maritime Trade, Shipping Infrastructure and Seafarer Safety.'
Earlier today, petrol prices were raised by Rs 2.61 a litre and diesel by Rs 2.71, the fourth increase in less than two weeks.
The latest increase took cumulative hikes since May 15 to nearly Rs 7.5 per litre, with petrol prices crossing Rs 100 per litre across many cities.
The hike came as global oil prices fell sharply amid hopes of a potential deal to end the US-Israel war on Iran.
The government, said sources, maintains that oil is available in sufficient quantities at petrol pumps.
Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd together control 90 per cent of India's fuel market.
Addressing reporters on the immediate concerns regarding the rising costs of retail fuel, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman clarified that price hikes are purely operational and driven by global procurement realities rather than sudden government policy changes.
She revealed that the central government had previously absorbed massive shocks--resulting in a Rs 1 lakh crore fiscal hit from reducing central taxes--to insulate consumers for over two and a half months.
"On one hand, for about 80 days, 75-76 days, we ensured that the burden on the people did not increase... even at that time, a 10-rupee increase would have happened that we absorbed, and that is almost a Rs 1 lakh crore hit on the functional budget. But the increases now are coming from the oil marketing companies because they are the ones who are procuring, setting," Sitharaman detailed.
Echoing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's austerity call, she asked people to focus on '3Fs' -- fuel, fertiliser and forex -- in the current scenario.
