Petro taxes funding vaccines, welfare, says Union Minister Hardeep Puri
The Hindu
Minister slams ‘simplistic’ narrative on prices, cites provision for welfare schemes
Reiterating that the excise duty levied on petroleum products is funding free COVID-19 vaccines and public welfare schemes, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Puri said on Friday that global oil prices would likely fall by the time India vaccinates its entire population, indicating no tax cuts may be expected at that time.
Facing multiple queries about the high retail prices for fuels at the closing press conference of India Energy Forum by CERAWeek, Mr. Puri said the Centre has been charging ₹32 as excise per litre, irrespective of whether the oil price was $19 a barrel or $84 a barrel, whereas States charge an ad valorem duty.
Stressing that oil prices had risen following the global coal crisis caused by ‘severe winters somewhere and a problem between two countries’, the Minister said political narrative in India was ‘simplistic’ and didn’t grasp the ‘difficult causation’ at work.
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