Hike in CE Duty on Petrol and Diesel in Parliament
YESTERDAY, the Government laid on the table of the Rajya Sabha the above notification and there was a short disturbed debate.
Mr. Anand Sharma said, "Sir, six times earlier, there has been an Excise Duty hike. When this Government assumed office, the price of crude was around 111 dollars per barrel. Yesterday, the price has fallen to 35 dollars per barrel. In the last financial year, 88 billion US dollars has been the saving on the oil import bill. Petrol was selling, in May last year, in Delhi at Rs. 71 and diesel at Rs. 63 per litre, when the international price was 110 dollars. Today, the international price is 35 dollars and you are selling the petrol at Rs. 65. You are profiteering. You have not transferred the benefits to the people. That is our charge. The Government has been profiteering. People have not been given any relief, when it comes to petrol and diesel prices. Please look at any period -- what has been the global price and what is your import price? Even if you add the refining duties, whatever may be the charges, the Government needs to explain why they are burdening the poor people. Are these the 'Ache Din' that your Government and the Prime Minister had promised? This is the question. It is also about the fiscal mismanagement. They are trying to save this money to cover up where they have failed. In this country, despite your tall claims, for 12 months, your exports have fallen. I have to say something more. You come with a Supplementary Demand to the House. We know that Rajya Sabha does not have the power to reject when it comes to the financial Bills. But you have also come with an astonishing supplementary demand to raise Rs. 2,300 crores for the Ministry of External Affairs to be spent for the foreign missions."
The Finance Minister Arun Jaitley replied,"Now, today what has happened is the international price of crude has fallen. The present Government has a clear policy, and let me just make it clear that that advantage by the present Government has been shared in three ways. In fact, it eventually gets shared more than three ways. One part of the fall in prices goes to the consumer. So, 20 times the price of petrol has been reduced and 16 times the price of diesel has been reduced.
Sir, one part of the fall in oil prices as a part of proper economic and fiscal planning goes to the consumer; the second part is going to developmental activities, particularly national highways and rural roads because those who consume petrol and diesel drive vehicles on these roads and they must pay for it. The third part is being consumed by the States by way of VAT. Of what the Central Government gets, 42 per cent is being passed on to the States. And the fourth part, let me tell you, goes to the oil companies for the reason that when oil companies make international purchases against future purchases, they suffer a huge loss. They buy at 80 dollars; by the time they sell, the price has become 60 dollars. At one stage, the loss of the oil companies was as high as Rs.40,000 crores. So, the fourth part of it goes to that. As a part of proper fiscal planning, this reduction in oil prices is being shared for developmental activities by the Centre, by the States, by the oil companies to cover up for their losses of the past, and one part advantage significantly goes to the consumer. As a result of this, this year, we are trying to achieve the fiscal deficit target without making any cuts to the budgets of the States, whatever the grants are to be given to them, and without making any cuts to the grants to be given to various Ministries for social sector programme. Unlike the UPA kind of planning, which will achieve fiscal deficit by making large budgetary cuts in..