India, May 5 -- On October 15, 2018, while interacting with global leaders from the energy sector in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had expressed concern over the steep increase in the international prices of crude oil (at $80 per barrel leading to corresponding increase in price of diesel and petrol) and had urged all leading producers/exporters to be more responsible in fixing the price, to bring it down to a reasonable level.

At that time, no one had even contemplated a scenario wherein the price of crude would plunge to a fraction of the October 2018 level. On April 22, Brent crude was ruling at just about $15 per barrel. In fact, the WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude price went into the negative territory at minus $40 per...