Petrol price rise: Subramanian Swamy slams govt for 'monumental exploitation' of people

With the petrol price in Mumbai breached Rs 90 mark on December 6, Rajya Sabha parliamentarian Subramanian Swamy slammed the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government and called this 'a monumental exploitation by GoI'.

"Petrol price at Rs 90 per litre is a monumental exploitation by GoI of the people of India. The price ex-refinery of petrol is Rs. 30/litre. All kinds of taxes and Petrol pump commission add up the remainder Rs.60. In my view petrol must sell at max. Rs. 40 per litre," Swamy wrote on Twitter.

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Petrol price at Rs. 90 per litre is a monumental exploitation by GoI of the people of India. The price ex-refinery of petrol is Rs. 30/litre. All kinds of taxes and Petrol pump commission add up the remainder Rs.60. In my view petrol must sell at max. Rs. 40 per litre.

— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) December 7, 2020

This is the first time that the price of petrol breached Rs 90 mark in Mumbai after 2018. On Monday morning too, petrol was priced at Rs 90.34 per litre in the financial capital, while the diesel stood at Rs 80.47 per litre.

Earlier on October 4, 2018, the daily fuel surge led to the price of petrol at Rs 91.34 per litre, while in the national capital it was Rs 84 per litre.

Despite the hue and cry over high fuel price in metros, the prices already surged in small cities like Bhopal (Rs 91.50 per litre), Aurangabad (Rs 91.57 per litre) and Indore (Rs 91.58 per litre) in the past week.

Meanwhile, experts opine that prices may go up further amid the bounce in international crude oil prices. On an annualised basis, India’s oil import bill rose by Rs 10,700 crore with every dollar per barrel increase in crude prices. On Monday, Brent was trading at $48.74 per barrel while the price of West Texas Intermediate was $45.74 a barrel.