India started the windfall tax on crude oil producers and on exports of gasoline, diesel and the aviation fuel in July 2022, reportedly to regulate private refiners who wanted to sell fuel overseas instead of locally, to gain from firm refining margins.
According to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the combined profit of OMCs for FY 2023-24 stood at Rs 86,000 crore, over 25 times higher than the extraordinarily difficult previous fiscal year.
The central government has reduced windfall tax on crude petroleum, according to a government notification. The special additional excise duty (SAED) on crude petroleum has been slashed from Rs 9,600 per tonne to Rs 8,400 per tonne.
Bringing a measure of respite to the people, especially the middle and lower-income sections, amid the polling for the 18th Lok Sabha, oil marketing companies have slashed the prices of commercial LPG gas cylinders by Rs 19 per unit with immediate effect.
As one of the world's fastest-growing economies, India is committed to supporting efforts to achieve balance in global energy markets, said Hardeep Puri during the conversation, the Ministry of Petroleum and natural Gas said in a press release.
According to S&P Global Commodity Insights (GCI), this decision comes amidst ongoing efforts to stabilize oil markets and counteract increasing output from rival producers such as the US and Brazil.
The report forecasts that India will emerge as the largest source of global oil demand growth between now and 2030, signalling a significant shift in the dynamics of the global oil market.
The report emphasised that these purchases, totalling an estimated 1.95 million barrels per day (b/d), were pivotal in averting potential chaos in the crude oil market and preventing a surge in prices by approximately USD 30-USD 40 per barrel.
Despite challenges stemming from sluggish overseas markets, India's resilient GDP growth, projected at 6.5 per cent in the financial year ending March 2025 (FY25), positions the nation among the world's fastest-growing sovereigns.