According to sources, RBML, a joint venture of Reliance Industries Ltd and supermajor BP, has informed the government that fuel retailing for the private sector in India has become unsustainable due to market-controlling public sector firms frequently freezing petrol and diesel prices at rates far below cost.

Despite a rise in oil prices, the state-owned Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd first froze petrol and diesel rates for a record 137 days beginning in early November 2021, when five states including Uttar Pradesh went to the polls, and then went into a 47-day hiatus last month.