Terming as “unfair’’ the pricing of indigenously produced oil in dollar terms, the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), Coimbatore, has urged the Government to replace import parity pricing with cost-based model.
It has also demanded that the oil companies should immediately roll-back the latest hike in petrol prices.
ICCI President R.R. Balasundaram said the second hike in petrol prices in two weeks was “unjustifiable’’ as it would only add to the burden on the trade and industry reeling under the impact of power cut. The price increase would push up the transport cost and would only put inflationary pressure.
He said the oil marketing companies (OMCs) that import much of the raw material, quoted the same price that was quoted on the Singapore exchange. Hence, the price they quoted “is not the actual cost of oil in India’’.
Balasundharam felt that it was “unfair’’ to fix the price for oil produced within the country in dollar terms and demanded that the “import parity pricing’’ be replaced with production cost-based model.
He urged the Government to withdraw the rights conferred on oil companies to fix the price of petroleum products and asked the OMCs to roll-back the latest petrol price hike forthwith.