India's state refiners are likely to halt diesel imports if they work out a temporary mechanism to resume buying the fuel from private processors, if global diesel prices remain at the current levels. A final deal is in the works and may take a few weeks to conclude. State refiners increased imports in recent months after private refiners refused to continue absorbing sales tax and coastal freight costs, making domestic fuel more expensive.
Earlier, private refiners use to pay central sales tax as well as coastal freight for shipping the fuel from their plants in Gujarat to consumption points in southern and eastern India. Under the latest arrangement, private refiners will pay the central sales tax and state-run marketing firms will pay coastal freight costs for interstate cargoes shipped from plants in western Gujarat state.
In India use of diesel which is mainly a transport fuel, is increasing along with an economy which grew by 7.6% in the financial year to March 31. To meet this rising demand, the three government-owned firms last year bought some 12 million tonnes of diesel from the private oil processors.
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