A late jump in oil prices is expected to increase India’s import bill to a 5-year high with a 30 per cent growth from 2017-18. Under the Modi regime, the crude oil import bill is estimated to touch USD 115billion.
It is estimated that the crude import bill for India 2018-19 could surge up to USD 115 billion under the Modi government; this is a substantial hike from 2017-18’s bill of USD 88billion. The 30 per cent growth is India’s highest oil import bill in over five years.
The second half of March witnessed the global crude oil prices reaching a new high in 2019 with the price hovering around USD 70 per barrel. This could be attributed to the production cuts from Russia and the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
The import bill under the Modi led National Democratic Alliance government in 2015 was USD112.74 billion which in the subsequent years faced a slump owing to the crash in global oil prices. The $115 billion import bill will take it closer to the levels witnessed in FY 13 and FY 14 when at the helm of international oil prices jump the barrel price hovered around USD 100 for the most part of the year.
With the new estimate of rising in prices the Centre continues to maintain that through the rising prices have managed to raise concerns, in the wider gamut of things the macroeconomic fundamentals of the economy will not be upset. Moreover, the Ministry of Finance sources confirmed that the government had been successful in meeting the fiscal deficit target of 3.4% which means that the changes in the prices of crude oil have been taken into account.
