India will at some stage need to assess how long state-run fuel retailers can sustain losses from selling transport fuels below market prices, oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri said at an industry event on Tuesday.
Fuel spot prices have surged to multi-year highs globally as the Middle East conflict disrupted supply, but governments in several major economies have held down pump prices to shield consumers from inflation.
A joint secretary in the oil ministry, Sujata Sharma, had earlier said that India had no plans to compensate oil marketing companies for these losses.
Fuel retailers are incurring losses of about 100 rupees ($1.06) per litre on diesel and 20 rupees per litre on petrol, Sharma said last month.
India is the world's third-largest oil importer and consumer, meeting more than 90% of its crude oil needs and about half of its natural gas demand through imports.
Indian state fuel retailers, including Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum, which account for most of the fuel sales in the country, have not raised gasoline and diesel prices since April 2022
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