Lok Sabha Question No. 16 (STARRED), answered on 2023-07-20
Subject: Uniformity in the Rates of Petroleum Products
Ministry: PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS
Asked by: Rahul Kaswan

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 16 TO BE ANSWERED ON 20 JULY, 2023

## Uniformity in the Rates of Petroleum Products

## †*16.   SHRI RAHUL KASWAN:

## पेोलयम और ाक ृतक गैस मंी

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

- (a) whether several States and Union Territories have requested the Government to implement uniform rates of Petrol, Diesel and other Petroleum products throughout the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto;
- (c) whether the Government has changed/revised the prices of Petroleum products during the last three years;
- (d) if so, the details thereof along with the reasons and justification for the said changes;
- (e)  the  share  of  crude  oil  import  and  domestic  production  in  the  total  annual  consumption  of crude oil in the country during the last three years and the current year; and
- (f)  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  reduce  dependence  on  import  and  to  develop alternatives to ensure availability of petroleum products at lower rates in the country along with the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## पेोलयम और ाक ृतक गैस मंी ( ी हरदप संह पुर )

## MINISTER OF PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS (SHRI HARDEEP SINGH PURI)

- (a) to (f): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

Statement referred  to  in  reply  to  parts  (a)  to  (f)  of  Lok  Sabha  Starred  Question  No.  16 asked by Shri Rahul Kaswan to be answered on 20 July 2023 regarding 'Uniformity in the Rates of Petroleum Products'.

(a) to (d): No Sir. Prices of petrol and diesel have been market-determined 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.  Main components of petrol and diesel prices are Base Price, Excise Duty (levied by Centre Government),Value Added Tax (VAT) levied by State Governments and Dealer's Commission. Prices across states vary mainly due to varying rates of VAT across the states. Table showing prices of petrol and diesel in state capitals/reference cities as on 18.07.2023 are at Annexure-I.

Central Government has reduced Central Excise duty by a total of Rs. 13/ litre and Rs. 16/ litre on petrol and diesel respectively in two tranches in November 2021 and May 2022. The excise reductions were fully passed on to consumers and retail prices fell as a result. The measure was aimed to give a further fillip to the economy and to boost consumption and keep inflation low, thus  helping  the  poor  and  middle  classes.  Subsequently,  many  States/UTs  have  also  reduced VAT rates on petrol and diesel.

India  imports  more  than  60%  of  its  domestic  LPG  consumption.  Government  continues  to modulate  the  effective  price  of  domestic  LPG.  Under  the  Direct  Benefit  Transfer  for  LPG (DBTL)  scheme,  subsidy  as admissible, is deposited in the bank  accounts of eligible beneficiaries. In addition, w.e.f. 21st May, 2022, Government has started a targeted subsidy of Rs. 200 per 14.2 Kg cylinder for Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) beneficiaries for upto 12 refills a year for years 2022-23 and 2023-24.

The details of monthly average Retail Selling Prices (RSP) of petrol and diesel at Delhi during the last three years are given at Annexure-II.

- (e): Details of crude oil imported, production alongwith consumption of petroleum products for the last 3 years are as given below: -

(Million Metric Tonnes)

| Year                              |   2020-21 |   2021-22 |   2022-23 (P) |
|-----------------------------------|-----------|-----------|---------------|
| Import of Crude Oil               |     196.5 |     212.4 |         232.7 |
| Production of Crude Oil           |      30.5 |      29.7 |          29.2 |
| Consumption of Petroleum Products |     194.3 |     201.7 |         223   |

P: Provisional

(f): Government  has  adopted  a five-pronged strategy comprising increasing domestic production of oil and gas, promoting energy efficiency and conservation measures, giving thrust on demand substitution, promoting biofuels and other alternate fuels/ renewables, EV charging facilities  and  refinery  process  improvements  for  reducing  the  county's  oil  dependence  on imported crude oil.

Various steps have been taken by the Government to increase the production of domestic crude oil and bring down imports. These inter-alia include Discovered Small Field  Policy,  Reforms  in  Hydrocarbon  Exploration  and  Licensing  Policy  for  enhancing domestic  exploration  and  production  of  Oil  &  Gas  2019,  Natural  Gas  Marketing  Reforms 2020,  Policy  to  promote  and  incentivize  enhanced  recovery  methods  for  Oil  and  Gas, Redevelopment  of  existing  matured  fields  and  development  of  new/marginal  fields,  Revival of  Sick  Wells,  improving  recovery  factors  through  the  implementation  of  Improved  Oil Recovery  (IOR)  and  Enhanced  Oil  Recovery  (EOR)  techniques,  etc.  Government  has  also provided  functional  freedom  to  national  Oil  Companies  and  promoted  wider  private  sector participation by streamlining approval processes through electronic single window mechanism.

In addition, Government launched National Biofuel Policy, 2018, to boost availability of biofuels in  country  and  use  of  alternative  clean  fuels  like  ethanol,  bio-diesel  and  bio-CNG  through schemes  for  Ethanol  Blending,  Bio-diesel  blending  and  Sustainable  Alternative  Towards Affordable  Transportation.  Ethanol  blending  in  Petrol  during  the  Ethanol  Supply  Year  (ESY) 2021-22 (December 2021-November 2022) is estimated to have had impact of over Rs. 22,600 Crore on the import bill of crude oil and petroleum products. The National Policy on Biofuels 2018  as  amended  targets  20%  blending  of  ethanol  in  petrol  by  ESY  2025-26.  Public  Sector OMCs have already achieved over 10% ethanol blending in petrol during Ethanol Supply Year (ESY)  2021-22.    Sale  of  E-20  (20%  ethanol  blended  petrol)  fuel  has  also  been  launched  in February, 2023.

## x-x-x-x-x

Annexure  referred  to  in  reply  to  Lok  Sabha  Starred  Question  No.  16  asked  by  Shri  Rahul Kaswan  to  be  answered  on  20.07.2023  regarding  'Uniformity  in  the  Rates  of  Petroleum Products'

(Rs. per litre)

| State                                 | Reference City     | Petrol           | Diesel           |
|---------------------------------------|--------------------|------------------|------------------|
|                                       |                    | as on 18.07.2023 | as on 18.07.2023 |
| Delhi                                 | Delhi              | 96.72            | 89.62            |
| West Bengal                           | Kolkata            | 106.03           | 92.76            |
| Tamil Nadu                            | Chennai            | 102.63           | 94.24            |
| Tripura                               | Agartala           | 99.49            | 88.44            |
| Mizoram                               | Aizawl             | 95.88            | 82.27            |
| Haryana                               | Ambala             | 97.48            | 90.31            |
| Karnataka                             | Bengaluru          | 101.94           | 87.89            |
| Odisha                                | Bhubaneswar        | 103.19           | 94.76            |
| Chandigarh                            | Chandigarh         | 96.2             | 84.26            |
| Uttarakhand                           | Dehradun           | 95.33            | 90.33            |
| Gujarat                               | Gandhinagar        | 96.63            | 92.38            |
| Sikkim                                | Gangtok            | 102.5            | 89.7             |
| Assam                                 | Guwahati           | 98.03            | 90.33            |
| Telangana                             | Hyderabad          | 109.66           | 97.82            |
| Madhya Pradesh                        | Bhopal             | 108.65           | 93.9             |
| Manipur                               | Imphal             | 101.23           | 87.15            |
| Arunachal Pradesh                     | Itanagar           | 92.78            | 82.2             |
| Rajasthan                             | Jaipur             | 108.48           | 93.72            |
| Maharashtra                           | Mumbai             | 106.31           | 94.27            |
| Jammu &Kashmir                        | Jammu              | 97.5             | 83.26            |
| Punjab                                | Jalandhar          | 98.01            | 88.34            |
| Nagaland                              | Kohima             | 99.51            | 87.59            |
| Uttar Pradesh                         | Lucknow            | 96.57            | 89.76            |
| Goa                                   | Panaji             | 97.68            | 90.23            |
| Bihar                                 | Patna              | 107.24           | 94.04            |
| Puducherry                            | Puducherry         | 96.16            | 86.33            |
| Andaman &Nicobar Islands              | Port Blair         | 84.1             | 79.74            |
| Chhatisgarh                           | Raipur             | 102.45           | 95.44            |
| Jharkhand                             | Ranchi             | 99.84            | 94.65            |
| Meghalaya                             | Shillong           | 97.49            | 85.72            |
| Himachal Pradesh                      | Shimla             | 97.26            | 89.13            |
| Jammu &Kashmir                        | Srinagar           | 101.34           | 86.59            |
| Kerala                                | Thiruvananthapuram | 109.73           | 98.53            |
| Dadra And Nagar Haveli &Daman And Diu | Silvasa            | 94.43            | 89.98            |
| Dadra And Nagar Haveli &Daman And Diu | Daman              | 94.31            | 89.86            |
| Ladakh                                | Leh                | 103.59           | 88.85            |
| Andhra Pradesh                        | Amaravati          | 111.87           | 99.61            |
| Lakshadweep                           | Kavaratti          | 108.06           | 103.08           |

Source: Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell

Annexure-II Annexure referred to in reply to Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 16 asked by Shri Rahul Kaswan to be

answered on 20.07.2023 regarding 'Uniformity in the Rates of Petroleum Products'

Source: Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell

| Month                   |   Petrol (Rs./Ltr) (Delhi) |   Diesel (Rs./Ltr) (Delhi) |
|-------------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|
| Apr-20                  |                      69.59 |                      62.29 |
| May-20                  |                      71.04 |                      68.47 |
| Jun-20                  |                      76.1  |                      74.91 |
| Jul-20                  |                      80.43 |                      80.97 |
| Aug-20                  |                      80.95 |                      73.56 |
| Sep-20                  |                      81.56 |                      72.26 |
| Oct-20                  |                      81.06 |                      70.46 |
| Nov-20                  |                      81.31 |                      70.86 |
| Dec-20                  |                      83.54 |                      73.7  |
| Jan-21                  |                      84.89 |                      75.07 |
| Feb-21                  |                      88.83 |                      79.11 |
| Mar-21                  |                      91.06 |                      81.37 |
| Apr-21                  |                      90.47 |                      80.8  |
| May-21                  |                      92.32 |                      82.96 |
| Jun-21                  |                      96.52 |                      87.27 |
| Jul-21                  |                     101.09 |                      89.71 |
| Aug-21                  |                     101.74 |                      89.52 |
| Sep-21                  |                     101.24 |                      88.8  |
| Oct-21                  |                     105.43 |                      94.07 |
| Nov-21                  |                     104.57 |                      87.85 |
| Dec-21                  |                      95.69 |                      86.67 |
| Jan-22                  |                      95.41 |                      86.67 |
| Feb-22                  |                      95.41 |                      86.67 |
| Mar-22                  |                      96.51 |                      87.77 |
| Apr-22                  |                     105.05 |                      96.31 |
| May-22                  |                     102.61 |                      94.4  |
| Jun-22                  |                      96.72 |                      89.62 |
| Jul-22                  |                      96.72 |                      89.62 |
| Aug-22                  |                      96.72 |                      89.62 |
| Sep-22                  |                      96.72 |                      89.62 |
| Oct-22                  |                      96.72 |                      89.62 |
| Nov-22                  |                      96.72 |                      89.62 |
| Dec-22                  |                      96.72 |                      89.62 |
| Jan-23                  |                      96.72 |                      89.62 |
| Feb-23                  |                      96.72 |                      89.62 |
| Mar-23                  |                      96.72 |                      89.62 |
| Apr-23                  |                      96.72 |                      89.62 |
| May-23                  |                      96.72 |                      89.62 |
| Jun-23                  |                      96.72 |                      89.62 |
| Jul-23(Till 18.07.2023) |                      96.72 |                      89.62 |