Suddenly, without any prior notice, Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), under the commerce ministry, from November 2018, stopped renewing licenses that it had been issuing since 2012 to various airlines operating in India for imports of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF). This created the role of intermediaries – both in public as well as private oil sector in India. Airlines have no option but to route their import of ATF through them, making the fuel expensive. In other words, the air travelers pay the difference in the form of higher tariff to such intermediaries.
