Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the benefit of softening international crude prices will not be passed on to the consumers now, and added that the lowering of prices would help reduce the amount of subsidies."When the international oil prices increased, we did not pass the entire burden to the consumers. The reduced international oil prices have only lessened the subsidy burden of firms like ONGC, oil marketing companies and the government," Chidambaram said today.The reduced subsidy would mean that funds would be available for re-investment to oil companies, he added.
