India Only Country Where Fuel Prices Came Down In 2 Years: Hardeep Puri

New Delhi: 

Countering Opposition criticism over high fuel prices, Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, said India is the only country in the world where fuel prices have come down over a two-year reference period.

Mr Puri was speaking at the NDTV Indian Of The Year awards in Delhi this evening.

The Narendra Modi government, he said, deserves admiration for controlling prices. “At a point when 80 crore people were being, and are still being provided, three meals of dry ration in a day, the Honourable Prime Minister was able to bring the price of fuel down. We are the only country in the world where, over a two-year reference period, the price of fuel has actually come down,” he said.

On a question on India’s position on buying Russian oil, reasons for which have been articulated by External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar on international forums, Mr Puri said, “The Indian position has been that we will buy from wherever we have to buy.”

He said India bought a very small quantity of its required crude oil from Russia before the war in Ukraine. “And then it rose, now it is 30-32 per cent. Will it remain like that? If we get a good price, it will,” he said, adding that India is getting other offers too.

Asked about the challenges in ensuring India is never energy-starved at a time of geopolitical developments such as the war in Ukraine, Mr Puri said, “What you describe as a challenge also contains within it an opportunity. The opportunity becomes very exciting if the economy is firing on all six cylinders.”