Overview
- Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said petrol should be sold at about ₹82 per litre and accused the Centre of allowing oil companies to keep 'illegitimate profits' instead of passing on lower crude costs to consumers.
- Kejriwal presented a line‑item calculation that converts crude at roughly $70 a barrel into a base cost near ₹42 per litre and then adds taxes, margins and commissions to arrive at his ₹82 retail figure.
- The Oil Ministry and Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri have pushed back, saying cuts are unlikely because state refiners are still refining higher‑cost crude bought earlier and have recorded cumulative losses of about ₹74,781 crore.
- Retail pump prices remained unchanged on July 10 with city variation driven by state taxes and levies, for example Delhi petrol at about ₹102.12 and Hyderabad at about ₹115.69 per litre.
- Any government action to lower pump prices would affect central and state tax revenue and OMC finances, and Kejriwal’s E20 questions have added a technical pricing element to the political pressure.