With the havoc of the corona epidemic subsiding, now the havoc of inflation has started increasing. In many states of the country, the price of petrol has crossed Rs 100 per liter. It is expected to increase further in the coming days. Petrol and diesel prices are increasing due to the cost of crude oil. The price of crude oil has crossed $ 70 per barrel.
Anuj Gupta, Vice President (Commodity & Currency), IIFL Securities says that the US economy has almost opened up. Along with this, life is returning to normal in European countries as well. This is increasing the demand for petroleum products. Crude oil prices rose sharply yesterday and hit a two-year high.
According to Anuj Gupta, by the end of this month, the price of crude oil can cross $ 73 per barrel. Due to this, the price of petrol and diesel can increase by up to Rs 2 per liter in the coming days.
The demand for crude oil has increased due to the opening of lockdown in many countries. Apart from this, the ban imposed on Iran for exporting crude oil does not seem to be lifted. Due to this also the price of crude oil is increasing continuously. India stopped importing oil from Iran from mid-2019 following the sanctions imposed by the Trump administration on Iran.
In the last 1 year, if we talk about petrol-diesel, then on June 2, 2020, petrol was at 71.26 and diesel at 69.39, which is now at Rs 94.49 and Rs 85.38 per liter. That is, in the last 1 year itself, petrol has become costlier by Rs 23.23 and diesel by Rs 15.99.
In the last month i.e. April, the indicator of wholesale inflation rate i.e. Wholesale Price Index (WPI) has been 10.49%. Whereas in March it was 7.39%. According to the latest data from the Ministry of Commerce, WPI has increased by 3.1% in a month. The ministry's statement said that the wholesale prices of commodities are increasing due to expensive crude petroleum and mineral oils i.e. petrol and diesel.
If you start getting petrol and diesel at half the price, then your happiness will be on some another level. This can be possible, if petrol and diesel are brought under the purview of GST. However, the government is in no mood to do so. If this happens, it will reduce the tax revenue of the government. If GST was applicable on petrol and diesel at this time, then petrol would be selling at Rs 81 and diesel at Rs 74 per liter.
