New Delhi: Following an over 36 percent fall in global crude oil prices in the last three months, oil marketing companies (OMCs) like Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) have stopped absorbing the Re 1 cut mandated by the government on every litre of petrol and diesel, two industry insiders said. This essentially means that all the benefit incurred from the drop in crude oil prices is not being transferred to consumers. "We are no longer absorbing the mandated price cut. There is no need when crude oil prices have cooled off," said one of the officials cited above. After witnessing backlash over rapidly rising fuel prices, the government had asked OMCs to absorb a cut of Re 1 per litre. The move could have dealt a blow worth Rs 9,000 crores on the companies' margins over two quarters.
