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New Delhi: Union petroleum minister Hardeep Puri said on Friday (July 3), a fortnight after international crude oil prices fell significantly – and continue to fall steeply – that Indian consumers would not immediately benefit from the decline. The government may have plans to use the savings in other ways, such as helping oil marketing companies, which are government-owned, to recoup their losses.

According to the Economic Times, Puri said lowering consumer prices would become a legitimate issue if global oil prices continue to stay low over a sustained period.

Puri said the retail prices consumers are paying for petrol and diesel are based on supplies that arrived in India when crude prices were high. He said the marketing companies had Rs 75,000 to recover from when they did not hike prices immediately after crude rose during the West Asia conflict.

“Today the crude oil that is sold at $70 per barrel or below will........

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