Kolkata, Mar 13 (PTI) Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday said that prices of petroleum products have come down in India when the global energy market is in turmoil.
Speaking at the Viksit Bharat programme here, Singh said that there has been turmoil in the global energy markets.
“In India, prices of petrol and diesel have come down over the last two years. Prices increased in other countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka and even in advanced countries,” he said.
India has diversified the sources of crude oil, hiked the use of alternate energy, increased exploration and production besides making a transition to electric vehicles, he said.
Through duty cuts, the government has foregone revenue to the tune of Rs 2.2 lakh crore, he said.
He said that oil PSUs have outperformed the Nifty index between 2014 and February 2024.
“At the time of global turmoil, prices should have gone up. But it has actually come down”, he said.
Puri said that India will continue to import crude from sources which are cheap as 85 per cent of petro-products are imported.
He said India has emerged now as a bright shot from being a fragile economy with rising GDP, falling inflation and a stable current account deficit.
“The country will soon be the third largest economy in the third term of the present dispensation”, he said.
The government has been able to cut down on pilferage and waste of energy products, Puri said.
Regarding price cuts of petro-products, Puri said this had been done when there were no elections in the country.
“Our price cuts are not determined on the basis of elections. When cuts were made in November 2021 and May 2022, there were no elections”, he said. PTI dc BDC NN
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