Took some steps, ready to take more, says Hardeep Puri on fuel prices

Mar 14,2022

He further noted that taxation is only one aspect of the entire issue; the government has to provide relief to consumers at the point of consumption as well.

Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri told the Rajya Sabha that while the Centre slashed petrol and diesel rates on November 5 last year and took some other steps, 9 states did not follow lead. He further noted that taxation is only one aspect of the entire issue; the government has to provide relief to consumers at the point of consumption as well.

Puri told the upper house, “When we saw that relief needs to be provided to consumers, PM slashed rates on November 5, 2021. We took some steps and ready to take more… 9 states didn’t do it. taxation is only one aspect, we’ve to provide relief to consumers at point of consumption.”

Puri also cited the comparative data on fuel prices from the US, Canada, Germany, Spain, France, Sri Lanka and India. The Union Minister also explained, “In all those countries, the price of petrol during this representative period has gone up by 50 per cent, 55 per cent, 58 per cent and 55 per cent. In India, it has gone up only by 5 per cent.”

While replying to a question by M Mohamed Abdulla, Minister of State of Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameswar Teli explained that the Central government has slashed the central excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 5 per litre and Rs 10 per litre respectively from November 4 last year.

Teli added, "The measure was aimed to give a further fillip to the economy and to boost consumption and keep inflation low, thus helping the poor and middle classes. Many states/UTs have also reduced the VAT on petrol and diesel subsequently."