The imminent action will be an excise duty cut to give some relief for the people as central government had raised excise duty nines times recently
Petrol and Diesel prices are sky rocketing in India as yesterday a litre of petrol cost Rs. 84.70 and Rs. 72.48 for diesel in Mumbai which is an all time record price. International crude oil prices are also increasing which is why the prices are going north day by day. The central government is under tremendous pressure from every one because of the rising fuel prices.
Union Minister of state for finance, Shiv Pratap Shakula said that the government has not failed in controlling the prices of petrol and diesel but it’s due to steep rise in crude prices in international market and breaking of US-Iran pact, which has affected not only India but other countries as well. He also said that the government is working on ways to control the fuel prises.
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BJP president Amit Shah said that it was a matter of concern in the highest echelons of the government and will be addressed in a few days. He also said that oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan will meet oil companies today. The government is looking into reasons for rising fuel prices and will certainly come out with a formula in coming days said Shah.
The Prime Minister’s office and the ministries of oil and finance are working on how to solve this issue. The imminent action will be an excise duty cut which could give some relief for the people. The central government had raised excise duty nines times between November 2014 and January 2016. By October 2017, the increase in excise duty was Rs. 11.77 per lite on petrol and Rs. 13.47 per litre on diesel.
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The oil ministry blamed the unilateral decision of OPEC to reduce production, political instability in Venezuela and the prospect of US sanctions against Iran and the weakened rupee is also the reason for the rising fuel prices. Yesterday a barrel of crude oil cost $80 which is high but not the highest as we have seen more than $120 per barrel.
Government is also planning to bring petrol and diesel under GST which will certainly help the prices to come down. But this will impact the money earned by government from petrol and diesel. We are expecting a decision on this to be taken by GST council soon. The government must focus on other revenue sources rather than these essential things to rely for money.