This is an article published in Dec14, but still holds truth.....
Why Indian petrol prices are so high despite lower crude prices
Deregulation is lip service; state-owned oil marketers report same cost and margin structures in petrol price build-up
Three years after deregulation, petrol prices still seem to be in the control of the government. Last week,
this paper pointed out that the fall in prices of petrol and diesel is less than that of the Indian crude basket. Over the last 18 months, while the Indian crude basket has fallen around 23% in dollar terms, local petrol prices have come down only by 4%.
Part of this wide discrepancy is, of course, explained by the exchange rate. As the first chart shows, when the Indian crude basket is converted into rupees, the fall in prices is smaller. But it is still around 19%.
Then, the Indian crude basket is only a broad benchmark. The starting price for calculating local petrol prices is Arab Gulf Gasoline rates. But as
Chart 1 shows, these rates too closely track international benchmarks such as Brent crude and Arab Gulf Dubai Fateh.
Read more at:
Why Indian petrol prices are so high despite lower crude prices - Livemint
