GDP (Gas-Diesel-Petrol) prices fixed by election dates and not global rates?

On the one hand the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is not going up while on the other hand the 'GDP' (Gas-Diesel-Petrol) prices are not going down despite reduction in prices in the international market, Congress spokesman Prof. Gourav Vallabh pointed out on Sunday.

Taking a swipe at the Narendra Modi government, he said it appeared the petrol and diesel prices--which have remained static since June--are not determined by prices in the international oil market but by election dates in India.

The jibe came a day after Congress leader and MP Jairam Ramesh tweeted that if petrol and diesel prices go down in the next 48-72 hours, it would show that the BJP and the Union government had been rattled by the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Gourav Vallabh pointed out on Sunday that the Modi government had inherited dynamic pricing policy from the UPA; it meant that prices of petrol and diesel would move up and down with fluctuations in international prices.

In the three months between June and September, he pointed out, crude oil prices of the India Basket--the prices at which India buys crude oil--went down from $116 a barrel to $81 a barrel, a decline of 24.14%. During this same period, gas prices in the international market have declined from $750 per metric tonne to $650 per metric tonne, registering a decline of 13.33%.

"When international prices go up, the government loses no time in increasing prices in the domestic market. But when the prices go down, the Union government does not show similar urgency to reduce the prices," he underlined.

In May 2014, he recalled, price of crude was $106 a barrel but in Delhi petrol was being sold at Rs 71 a litre and diesel at Rs 55 a litre. But now in September 2022 when the international price of crude is $81, petrol in the national capital is selling at close to Rs 100 and diesel at Rs 90.

On behalf of the Congress, he put up the following three demands to the government:

1. Since international price of crude is the lowest in the last seven months and while inflation is still high, the Government must lower prices of petrol and diesel and provide some relief to the consumers.

2. A reduction of Rs 15 each per litre of petrol and diesel and a reduction of Rs 150 per gas cylinder

3. To ensure dynamic pricing in letter and in spirit and not in accordance to the convenience of the ruling party and election dates