The Hindu Business Line : Sob stories on fuel to make your woes lighter

These days, any discussion on fuel price quickly touches a raw nerve. Because, we know that the State Governments and the Centre take away as taxes almost 55 per cent of what we pay for petrol. In comparison, taxes in other countries are at low levels. For instance, the US levies only 17 per cent, and Bangladesh 24 per cent, which is less than half of our rates.

Ignorance should be bliss, these days; for, it only aggravates people to know that Venezuela pays less than Rs 1.50 per litre of petrol, even as Chennai pays Rs 52, and Mumbai Rs 54, through a bloodied nose. Price per gallon (that is, 3.7854118 litres) is $2.75 in the US, while Chennai pays $4.28.

Collective tears have gone dry, wailing over the runaway fuel prices. Be that as it may, to cheer yourself up, read what is happening elsewhere. "LPG was either unavailable at retail outlets or was being sold at Rs 70 a kg in black market," reports Tanveer Ahmed on www.dailytimes.com.pk, in a story dated May 11. "The price of LPG has seen unprecedented increase since last month, when it was available for Rs 25-30 a kg in the market." At Rs 70, a cylinder with 14 kg gas should cost Rs 980. Aren't we luckier?

Another story from Pakistan, dated May 18, on http://paktribune.com, informs one that oil prices were revised 155 times between July 1, 2001 and April 1, 2006. "While petrol and diesel prices were raised 45 and 42 times respectively, price reduction of these products was introduced just for 23 times, during the same span of time," reads the report.

Let us look at another neighbour, Bangladesh. "Diesel per litre Tk 30 in Bangladesh, Tk 61 in India: Energy Ministry concerned over massive smuggling," noted Anisur Rahman Khan in a story dated June 7 on http://nation.ittefaq.com. It seems 25 per cent of the total imported diesel is being smuggled out to India annually! Khan cites Energy and Mineral Resources Adviser Mahmudur that three lakh tonnes out of 37 lakh tonnes of imported diesel worth $250 million are being smuggled to the neighbouring countries a year.

"A litre of petrol must be 100 rupees." Oh, where? In Sri Lanka, going by a report dated June 1 on www.colombopage.com. "At present the price of a litre of petrol is 88 rupees, but the government has to face financial problems due to the current price." You can find affirmation of this on www.arabnews.com, which quotes A.H.M. Fowzie, Sri Lanka's minister in charge of Haj affairs, thus: "We're losing two billion rupees per month, as we're selling petrol at the subsidised rate of 88 rupees as against its actual price of 100 rupees."

In Kuala Lumpur, people have been told to learn from the recent petrol price increase and be prepared when facing difficulties. Valuable advice of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Syed Putra Jamalullail, according to a June 4 report on http://thestar.com.my.

Another report, dated May 30, on www.bernama.com.my, cites the country's Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to explain about the last fuel price increase of 30 sen a litre for petrol and diesel and 30 sen a kg for cooking gas on Feb 28. He has said that a single lump sum increase was preferable to several smaller increases, which might eventually add up to a bigger sum.

To wrap up, there's something interesting from the next-door neighbour, Pakistan. Its Supreme Court passed an order in May asking the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to submit its findings on profits earned by refineries and oil marketing companies despite reduction of prices in the international market, as www.dawn.com enlightens us.

Closer home, something queer happened. Even as oil companies were lamenting about a loss of Rs 73,000 crore, because fuel prices weren't hiked, one read about a four-fold rise in an Indian oil company's Q4 net profit.

E&OE@TheHindu.co.in