The ministry plans to direct ONGC to sell its crude oil at below ruling international prices by capping the price at, say, $70 for the entire fiscal year. Oil India Ltd, the country's second largest hydrocarbon exploration and production PSU, will not be a part of this scheme.

After Karnataka polls, the overall increase in the prices of petrol has been Rs 2.84 per litre whereas diesel has gone up by Rs 2.60 during the same period.

There seems to be no respite from the boiling fuel prices in the country. On Thursday, the price of petrol touched Rs 85 per litre in Mumbai while diesel was retailing at Rs 72.96.

Even as the clamour grows for a cut in central excise duty to bring down skyrocketing petrol and diesel prices, the oil marketing companies (OMCs) seem to have got the most bang for their buck ever since the Modi government came to power.

The broader NSE Nifty closed 1.01 percent or 106 points lower at 10,430.35, while the benchmark BSE Sensex fell 0.88 percent or 306 points to 34,344.91. Both the indexes fell over 1 percent in the last hour of trading.

Moody's said Oil and Natural Gas Corp and Oil India face increasing risk that govt will require them to share in fuel-subsidy burden, as oil prices rise. Firms have not contributed to fuel subsidies since June 2015, but had paid for over 40 percent  of the annual subsidy bill in previous years, Moody's said.

Every $10 per barrel rise in the price will worsen India's fiscal balance by 0.1% and current account balance by 0.4% of GDP, according to estimates of global financial services major Nomura.

The top five companies in each category

The 30-share Sensex opened positive and advanced to the session's high of 35,388.87. However, profit-booking by investors ahead of Karnataka elections this week trimmed the gains, with the gauge sinking to the day's low of 35,136.01. It finally settled 8.18 points or 0.02 per cent higher at 35,216.32.