Lok Sabha Question No. 1383 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-01
Subject: Prices of Petrol/Diesel/LPG/Kerosene
Ministry: PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS
Asked by: Janardan Mishra

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1383 TO BE ANSWERED ON 1 ST  JULY, 2019

## Prices of Petrol/Diesel/LPG/Kerosene

## †1383. SHRI JANARDAN MISHRA:

## पेट्रोलियम और प्राक ृ लिक गैस मंत्री

## Will the Minister of PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government is planning to reduce prices of petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene in the country;

(b) if so, the details thereof and the efforts made or proposed to be made by the Government in this regard in the recent past;

(c) the reasons/constraints of the Government responsible for the hiked petrol price; and

(d)  the  details  of  various  subsidy  schemes  available  for  Petrol/Diesel/LPG/  Kerosene, scheme-wise?

## ANSWER

## पेट्रोलियम और प्राक ृ लिक गैस मंत्री

## (श्री धमेन्द्र प्रधान)

## MINISTER OF PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

- (a) to (c) Prices of petrol and diesel have been made market-determined by the Government with effect from 26.06.2010 and 19.10.2014 respectively. Since then, the Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) take appropriate decision on pricing of petrol and diesel in line with international product prices and other market conditions.  The Government continues to modulate the effective price to consumer for Subsidized Domestic LPG and retail selling price of PDS Kerosene.   The prices of petroleum products are linked to  the  price  of  respective  products  in  the  international  market.      Oil  Marketing Companies  take  a  decision  on  retail  selling  price  after  considering  various  aspects including international product prices, exchange rate, tax structure, inland freight and other cost elements.

With an aim to reduce the prices of petrol and diesel and give relief to the consumers, the Central Government reduced the Central Excise duty on petrol and diesel by ` 2 per litre with effect from 4 th October, 2017.  The Central Government further reduced the  Central  Excise  duty  on  petrol  and  diesel  by ` 1.50 per litre  with  effect  from  5 th October,  2018  and  Public  Sector  OMCs  also  reduced ` 1.00  per  litre  to  reduce  the overall  price  of  petrol  and  diesel. The  Central  Government  also  requested  the  State Governments  to  make  a  reduction  of ` 2.50  per  litre  in  VAT  imposed  by  them  on petrol  and  diesel.  Accordingly,  18  State  Governments  and  1  Union  Territory  have reduced VAT on petrol and diesel.

- (d) The following are the under-recovery/subsidy schemes currently under implementation for domestic LPG (up to the cap of 12 cylinders per annum to each household)/ PDS kerosene :-

## LPG

Government, as a measure of Good Governance has introduced well targeted system of subsidy  delivery  to  LPG  consumers  through  PAHAL  Scheme.  This  initiative  of  the Government  was  aimed  at  rationalizing  subsidies  based  on  approach  to  cut  subsidy leakages,  but  not  subsidy  per  se.  Applicable  subsidy  is  directly  transferred  into  the bank account of the beneficiaries.

As  on  20.6.2019.,  more  than  24.76  crore  LPG  consumers  have  joined  the  PAHAL Scheme.    So  far,  more  than ` 1.13  lakh  crore  have  been  transferred  into  the  bank accounts of consumers under PAHAL.

## PDS Kerosene

Ministry  of  Petroleum  &  Natural  Gas  has  launched  Direct  Benefit  Transfer  in  PDS Kerosene  (DBTK)  Scheme.  The  DBTK  Scheme  is  being  implemented  with  an objective  to  bring reforms  in  Allocation  and  Distribution  of  PDS  SKO  distribution system. Under the DBTK Scheme, as a part of distribution reforms, PDS Kerosene is sold to the identified beneficiaries at non-subsidized rate and the applicable subsidy is directly transferred into the bank account of the beneficiaries. The State Government of Jharkhand has implemented the DBTK in all the 24 districts.

In case of other States/UTs, subsidized PDS Kerosene is allocated on quarterly basis. Amount of under- recovery on PDS Kerosene is the difference between cost price and issue price of the depot. The issue price is regulated and the differential under-recovery is compensated by the Government.

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