The price increase in petrol is the least during the seven years of the Modi government!
The claim was made by Hardeep Singh Puri, union minister of petroleum and natural gas, during the Times Now Summit 2021 today.
“I found that in the seven years of the Modi government, the price of petrol has increased less than the increase in any previous seven years,” he said, adding that in the last 7 years of the Modi government, petrol price was raised by 30 per cent while in the past the rates jumped by 70 per cent.
Hike in petrol and diesel prices has made headlines as it touched Rs 110 per litre in the first week of November. The Union government since has reduced excise duty on petrol by Rs 5 a litre and on diesel by Rs 10 a litre.
It was followed by VAT reduction by all BJP-ruled states and some non-BJP ruled states as well.
The government was able to reduce excise duty as consumption of petrol and diesel is higher than in pre-Covid times. Revenue collection, such as GST, has since stabilized giving the government headroom to cut prices. Earlier, the government couldn’t reduce excise duty as it had to support multiple social security schemes, including the Covid vaccination programme.
“You can not cut energy prices to create the problem somewhere else,” said Puri.
