Petrol, diesel price in India much lower than other South Asian countries

If you find India's fuel prices high, then you must see the prices of other South Asian countries.

Recently, World Bank released a report on the fuel prices in South Asian Countries. It has been found out that India's fuel price is much lower than its neighbouring countries.

Till August 16, the petrol price in India was Rs 60.09 per litre. Comparing it with Sri Lanka, where till September 5, the price of petrol was LKR 128 (1 LKR is equals to Rs 0.46) and price in Bangladesh till April 24 was Tk 86. In Nepal, till February 17, the petrol prices was Nepali Rs 97.

Similarly, the diesel prices in India are also the lowest among these countries. Till August 16, the diesel price was at Rs 50.27 in India while in Sri Lanka diesel cost was at LKR 95 till September 9. In Nepal diesel price till February 17 was at Nepali Rs 73 and in Bangladesh it costs Tk 65 till April 24.

Though, since 2007, the petrol prices in India rose by 40%, when it used to cost Rs 42.85. This was before deregulation. The petrol prices were at peak during January 2014, when it touched the highest at Rs 72.43.

In 2010, the government of India took a bold decision to deregulate petrol prices, which means that the government (then UPA government) will no longer be subsidizing the petrol prices and the prices will be purely linked to the international crude prices. 

Looking at the data, the petrol price in June 2010 was Rs 51.43 as against current price Rs 60.09, a jump of 16.8% since its deregulation. 

Further, like petrol, when the diesel prices were at peak at Rs 56.71 in May 2014, same year in October, the NDA government deregulated the price of diesel. That time, in October, its price was around Rs 50.51 per litre as against current price at Rs 50.27, almost same since then. But, since February 2007, the diesel price has rose by 66%.