India to benefit from oil price drop

New Delhi: Oil prices declined to $81.74 per barrel in the international market on Thursday, despite geopolitical tensions, as the US Federal Reserve is not expected to reduce interest rates any time because of the high inflation rate.

Prices of the benchmark Brent crude have now come down to $81.74 a barrel from close to $84 a barrel last week. The US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) futures were trading at $77.35 indicating the further softening of prices.

Since India imports close to 85 per cent of its crude requirement, the decline in oil prices reduces the country’s import bill and strengthens the rupee.The Government has also helped to cut the country’s oil import bill by allowing the oil companies to buy Russian crude at discounted prices despite the pressures from Western countries to stop these purchases in the wake of the Ukraine war.