High global oil prices: ‘Centre took several steps to insulate citizens’
New Delhi: Centre has taken several steps to insulate common citizens from high international oil prices, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Suresh Gopi informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply on Monday.
The government slashed Central Excise duty by Rs. 13/litre and Rs. 16/litre on petrol and diesel respectively in two tranches in November 2021 and May 2022. Some State govts also reduced state VAT rates to provide relief to citizens.
In March, 2024, OMCs also reduced the retail prices of petrol and diesel by Rs. 2 per litre each and current RSP of petrol and diesel at Delhi is Rs. 94.72 and Rs. 87.62 per litre respectively
Prices of LPG in the country are linked to its price in the global market. the govt continues to modulate the effective price to consumer for domestic LPG. During FY21 to FY23, the average Saudi CP (international benchmark for LPG pricing) went up from $415 per MT to $712 per MT.
Under PAHAL Scheme, the domestic LPG cylinders are sold at non-subsidised price and the applicable subsidy to the consumers is transferred directly into their bank accounts. Apart from the direct subsidy to consumers, the OMCs have also been compensated Rs 22,000 crore in FY23 by the government to cover the under-recoveries suffered by them in not passing on the high international LPG prices to the domestic LPG consumers.
W.e.f. May 21, 2022, Government has been providing a targeted subsidy of Rs. 200 per 14.2 Kg LPG cylinder for Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) beneficiaries for up to 12 refills a year. Government reduced the retail selling price of domestic LPG by Rs. 200 per 14.2 Kg LPG cylinder with effect from 30th August, 2023. Moreover, w.e.f. 5th October, 2023, Government increased the targeted subsidy to Rs. 300 per 14.2 Kg LPG cylinder for all Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) beneficiaries. Government further reduced the RSP of domestic LPG by Rs. 100 per 14.2 Kg cylinder w.e.f. 9th March, 2024.
The current RSP of domestic LPG at Delhi is Rs. 803 per 14.2 Kg cylinder.
With a targeted subsidy of Rs. 300 per cylinder (and proportionately prorated for 5 Kg cylinder), effective cost for PMUY consumers is Rs. 503 per 14.2 Kg cylinder (at Delhi) currently.
