NEW DELHI, June 18 -- Crude oil is getting cheaper, and that is exactly why the Indian government decided this week to make it more expensive to ship diesel and jet fuel out of the country.

In its routine fortnightly revision, effective June 16, New Delhi raised the export levy on aviation turbine fuel to 12.5 rupees a litre from 9.5, a jump of nearly a third, and nudged the diesel duty up to 14 rupees from 13.5. The tax on exported petrol was left where it has sat for months, at 1.5 rupees. Reuters first reported the revised rates.

The decision reads backward only if you are still watching the price of crude. Brent has slipped below 85 dollars a barrel, down more than four percent in a single stretch and a long way from the 110 it touc...