Oil Minister On Why Fuel Prices Are So High

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri has no chill for the constant wrangling about rising fuel prices. Here’s his take…

Transcript

00:00I think the simplistic political narrative we get in India,

00:03price has gone up, why don't you reduce your taxes?

00:06The 32 rupees a litre that we collect

00:09provides us the ability to provide all these welfare services,

00:14including 1 billion vaccine.

00:30The Government of India has been charging 32 rupees as excise per litre,

00:57whether the price was $19 a barrel or whether it is 84 barrels a dollar.

01:05Yesterday, we completed 1 billion vaccines being administered.

01:12We fed 90 crores people for one full year, three meals in a day, we provided that.

01:22We do Ujjwala, which is a social inclusion scheme.

01:28We are also getting our mothers and sisters and daughters away from unhealthy cooking fuels.

01:35We distributed 8 crore cylinders, another 1 crore now.

01:41Now, I am not the finance minister,

01:43therefore, I don't think that's an appropriate answer for me to give.

01:48But all I can tell you, and because it's relevant here,

01:51that the 32 rupees a litre that we collect

01:55provides us the ability to provide all these welfare services,

02:00including 1 billion vaccine.

02:02But more than that, the states and the centre,

02:06through the spirit of cooperative federalism,

02:08the Kerala High Court had in fact suggested

02:11that petrol and diesel prices be put on the GST agenda.

02:16And in a meeting that took place in Lucknow, the Honourable Finance Minister did.

02:20But the state governments thought otherwise.

02:22Now, Telegraph is a paper based in Calcutta, as far as I know.

02:26And when I was there during a political meeting,

02:30I was asked, why has the price gone up?

02:32I said, the state government has raised it by 3 rupees 51 paisa since July.

02:40And that is the result.

02:41So, I don't want to continue this discussion.

02:43But I think the simplistic political narrative we get in India,

02:47if the price has gone up, why don't you reduce your taxes?

02:50So, every time a price goes up due to something else,

02:53it says that you axe your own feet in the process.

02:56So, I'm not very sensitive to that kind of a discussion.

03:00When the entire population of India gets vaccinated,

03:04will petrol and diesel prices go down?

03:07By then, the prices will go down.