00:00I want to bring in Siddharth Zarabi into this conversation because this is a question that's on facts.
00:05And Siddharth, the country, actually the world went through a very difficult time and it still hasn't been able to
00:11come out.
00:12Whether it was the Russia-Ukraine war or the US-Iran war, fuel prices shot up, fertilizer prices shot up.
00:20Has India been able to steer better?
00:23You know, the Prime Minister listed out a number of things where India has been able to withstand the shock.
00:29Unlike, take for example, US where prices just shot up.
00:32Here they haven't as much.
00:35So, Gaurav, the fact that fuel prices have not risen in line with the volatility that we saw in global
00:42crude oil prices is proven.
00:44It's not just proven with the start of the West Asia crisis in February of this year.
00:50We can go back another to 2022 when it was another February and the Russia conflict that you covered, Ukraine
00:59conflict that you covered in so much detail broke out.
01:02At both times, crude oil prices rose.
01:07There was one set of increases that happened and then another one that has happened in May this year.
01:13But if you take a look at the cumulative impact, it is clear that the government of India and the
01:19oil marketing companies have taken on a very significant burden of the global crude oil volatility that we have seen.
01:28Could this have been avoided?
01:30Can we suddenly discover more crude oil at home?
01:33Those are matters that we can debate separately.
01:35But the facts speak for themselves for four years.
01:40Consumers in this country have been protected to a significant extent from the impact that higher petrol and diesel prices
01:47have.
01:48We must also add gas in the most recent crisis because 90% of our gas, LNG, is imported and
01:58we have diversified.
01:59Inflation, just a day ago, the print is now above 6%.
02:04This is a number that is significant.
02:07It may lead to a rate hike.
02:10But just think of it.
02:11If the full pass-through of petrol and diesel prices had happened to the end consumer and the 14,000
02:18crore that is being borne on the diesel account that Prime Minister Modi highlighted at our Kisan Tak summit,
02:24if that had been passed on to consumers, imagine what would have happened to inflation.
02:29So, regardless of the politics and the debate, it is clear that the government of India and the oil marketing
02:35companies, which are again central PSUs, have managed the fuel supply and fuel price situation.
02:43Does this mean that nobody is paying the bill?
02:46Absolutely not.
02:47The bill is ultimately coming to the exchequer.
02:50But for now, tens and hundreds of millions of Indians have been saved from higher prices.
02:57And Siddharth, Siddharth, Siddharth, Siddharth, Siddharth, the 30 seconds that I have on this part of the show, I just
03:02want to understand, is the worst over or the worst is still not over?
03:06And we still have to tide over a very difficult economic situation while, of course, we continue to battle about
03:12the political situation.
03:13That's okay.
03:14But the economic situation, Siddharth?
03:16Just six hours ago, there's been a report from the IEA that for the first time, we will slip into
03:23a surplus supply position on crude oil.
03:27Remember, the Hormuz crisis was not a crisis alone of price rises.
03:32It was for the first time a crisis of supply.
03:36Yes, availability.
03:36And this is a very pivotal moment and we can therefore expect that crude oil prices are likely to soften
03:43further.
