Govt not regulating fuel prices

New Delhi: Amid petrol and diesel prices remaining unchanged for three months now, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday told the Lok Sabha that the government doesn't tell oil marketing companies to raise or lower the prices. Responding to supplementaries during Question Hour, Puri also said prices have gone up by only 30 per cent in the last seven years, that is from 2014-2021 period and emphasised that various steps have been taken to deal with the situation of high oil prices. The NDA government has been in power at the Centre since 2014.

"Just now, we have a situation where the amount of crude made available in the market is less than the demand. That is why prices are high. We are in touch with the producing countries and we try to use our margin of persuasion to tell them to make more crude available. Equally, it is determined by the exchange rates, the freight rates and the dealer margin," the minister said.

To a query on whether petrol and diesel prices are not being hiked due to upcoming elections, Puri said, "we don't tell oil marketing companies to whether raise the prices or lower them. They have to determine..." Noting that the government has taken a number of steps to meet the current situation, he said that a little while ago, excise duty on petrol and diesel was reduced by Rs 5 and Rs 10, respectively.