Over the last fortnight or so fuel prices have seen a progressive price increase. The fuel price increases have come just after the Assembly elections to avoid any impact on voting patterns if it had been earlier though the Iran war has been continuing much before the elections. The increases are ostensibly to compensate the losses of the Oil Marketing Cos (OMCs) in the wake of rise in international prices of oil consequent of the Iran war. Now the OMCs are mostly govt cos but for Reliance and some other small private players. In any case with the Iran war seemingly coming to an end the OMCs would not have had to carry this burden for long. As a policy measure, one thinks that it is time to arrive at a dynamic oil pricing measure linked with international oil prices.This could operate on a regular fortnightly or monthly cycle allowing contingency operation for abnormal oil price changes over a denominated band. This kind of a system will allow the public to get used to a logical basis for domestic fuel price changes and recognise their linkage to international oil prices.
