Govt. can reduce petrol prices by ₹25 a litre: Chidambaram

Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Wednesday claimed that the government can reduce the price of petrol by as much as ₹25 a litre.

In a series of tweets, Mr. Chidamabaram has explained the burden of taxes on the retail prices of petrol.

"It is possible to cut upto ₹25 per litre, but the government will not. They will cheat the people by cutting price by ₹1 or 2 per litre of petrol," he said.

"Central government saves ₹15 on every litre of petrol due to fall in crude oil prices. Central government puts additional tax of ₹10 on every litre of petrol," Mr. Chidamabaram said elaborating his tweet.

"Bonanza to central government is ₹25 on every litre of petrol. This money rightfully belongs to the average consumer," he added.

The statement comes on a day when the Ministry of Petroleum could meet the Oil companies to discuss the issue of regular increase in the prices of petrol and diesel since May 12.

On Tuesday, BJP president Amit Shah at a press conference said the government is concerned about the hike in fuel prices and would meet the oil companies.

Retail prices of petrol and diesel are at a record high and in cities like Mumbai, it was selling at ₹84.07 per litre on Monday.

The Opposition hit out at the Modi government for a steep hike in recent days and alleged that oil companies were forced to keep the prices "artificially static" for the Karnataka elections and are now recovering from the consumers.

Oil companies, however, denied this charge. “There was no directive from the government as far as the retail price is concerned,”Indian Oil Corporation Chairman Sanjeev Singh said during a press conference on Tuesday.

“The government has given us the freedom to revise prices daily. We are following that formula. We took a call [in those 19 days]... we believed that the trends that were happening were not supported by fundamentals,” he said.