India to be hit by eco crisis if oil price crosses $60: Swamy

India will be hit by an economic crisis if crude oil price crosses USD 60 per barrel, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy said today.

"Given the state of our economy, if crude oil price per barrel rises above USD 60 then we will be hit by an economic crisis," he tweeted today.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate is trading around USD 47 per barrel while Brent is at USD 49 currently.

The slump in oil prices last year is one of the factors that helped Indian economy notch up big gains by cutting its import bill and reining in inflation.

India, which depends on imports to meet 80 per cent of its oil needs, will have to spend Rs 9,126 crore (USD 1.36 billion) more every year for one dollar per barrel increase in crude oil. Besides, the rising crude oil trajectory impacts inflation and growth.

Swamy asked his followers if anyone is specialised in crude oil price forecasting? "If so guess what will be the price in this December," he tweeted.

India spent USD 63.96 billion on crude oil import in 2015-16, about half of USD 112.7 billion outgo in the previous fiscal and USD 143 billion in 2013-14. For the current fiscal, the import bill has been pegged at USD 66 billion at an average import price of USD 48 per barrel.