NEW DELHI: Indian state refiners may continue importing higher volumes of diesel for the next few months instead of buying locally as private domestic oil processors like Reliance Industries and Essar Oil have withdrawn discounts on taxes and shipping. India’s diesel use is rising along with an economy that is estimated to have grown by 7.6 per cent in the financial year just ended. Between April and February India’s diesel demand surged 10.8 per cent.
To meet this soaring demand, the state refiners – Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp – last year bought some 12 million tonnes of diesel from the private oil processors. And through the fiscal year that ended on March 31, the private refiners encouraged these purchases by absorbing the central sales tax and coastal freight costs for interstate cargoes shipped from their plants in western Gujarat state.
