The Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoPNG) said on Tuesday that there is no proposal to raise the retail prices of petrol and diesel, which have not been raised since April 6, 2022.
India had a combined daily under-recovery of around ₹2,400 crore (till March 27, 2026), as per the MoPNG.
On government planning to raise retail prices after the conclusion of the Assembly elections, Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary in the MoPNG, said, “There is no proposal to increase petrol and diesel prices.”
Last week, the Ministry said that PSU oil marketing companies (OMCs) are bearing under recoveries of around ₹20 a litre on petrol and ₹100 on diesel.
Around March 27, at current international crude prices, under-recoveries stood at around ₹26 per litre on petrol and ₹81.90 per litre on diesel. While around April 2, there was an under recovery of ₹24.40 per litre on petrol and ₹104.99 on diesel.
According to Kotak Institutional Equities, relative to 11M FY26, the Indian crude basket rose by $47 per barrel in March 2026 and $53 in the first half of April. Despite a 13-15 per cent decline in imports, India’s crude import bill has increased by $190-210 million per day.
Last week, Sharma had emphasised that there is a “lot of volatility” in international crude oil prices. However, the government has not raised retail prices of auto fuels.
“If you look at crude basket, the oil we were purchasing for $70 per barrel FY26 average), it has increased to an average of more than $113 per barrel in this month (April 2026). If you look at the Indian basket from November 2021 to March 2026, there is a huge increase and in spite of that the government has not increased the price. Government’s effort has been to keep prices stable,” she had said.
On refinery runs, Sharma said on Tuesday that all refineries are operating at high capacity with adequate crude inventories, while sufficient stocks of petrol and diesel are being maintained.
“Panic buying is observed at certain retail outlets (ROs) due to rumours. It is informed that there are adequate stocks of petrol and diesel available at all petrol pumps in the country. Regular retail prices for petrol and diesel are unchanged and there is no price increase at PSU OMCs’ retail outlets,” she added.
Published on April 28, 2026