Petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday told the Lok Sabha that petrol prices in India have gone up by "merely 5 per cent" as against more than 50 per cent in countries such as the UK, US, Germany and France. The Centre has repeatedly linked the surge in diesel and petrol prices to the Ukraine war, which is now entered its sixth week.
"We are not the only country impacted by the war," news agency ANI quoted Puri as saying. “The surge in fuel prices in India is 1/10th of the price hike in other countries. The prices in the US have increased by 51 per cent, Canada 52 per cent, 55 per cent in Germany and the UK, France 50 per cent, Spain 58 per cent, but only 5 per cent in India,” Puri added.
Puri also underlined that the price of natural gas has shot up several times in the international market after the outbreak of the war.
The government is under pressure from opposition parties over the surge in fuel prices. Congress leaders have been accusing the BJP-led government of "tax-gouging and "profiteering" over the fuel price surge.
Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala had last week taken a dig at the Centre saying the "Modi government has hit a century of petrol" as prices crossed ₹100-mark in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and several other cities.
{{/usCountry}}Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala had last week taken a dig at the Centre saying the "Modi government has hit a century of petrol" as prices crossed ₹100-mark in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and several other cities.
{{/usCountry}}Congress leader Shashi Tharoor also compared the daily hike in fuel prices to "drip torture". “Who told the BJP that drip torture is more saleable to the public than the guillotine (tool designed to behead),” he had tweeted implying that the rising prices of petrol and diesel and a way of killing people.
State-owned fuel retailers hiked the rates of petrol and diesel by 80 paise on Tuesday, the 13th increase in the last 15 days. The latest hike has taken the overall increase since the ending of a four-and-half-month long hiatus in rate revision to ₹9.2 per litre.
India is 85 per cent dependent on imports for meeting its oil needs. Russia’s Ukraine invasion and escalating sanctions have hampered the oil flows across the globe. Brent crude hovered around $108.26 per barrel on Tuesday as per marketwatch.com, following a sharp decline after hitting an all-time high in the previous weeks.