The Finance Ministry has diverted a significant amount meant to be infused into the Oil Industry Development Fund (OIDF) for reducing the fiscal deficit. According to informed sources, out of Rs1,14,000-crore collected through cess on petrol sales, till date only around Rs920 crore has been put into the fund for financing the setting up of strategic oil reserves across the country.
The OIDF had been set up under the aegis of Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB) Act, which was passed by Parliament in 1974, wherein all the cess collected through petrol sales is to be infused.