The Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan, today said that the government is keeping a watch on high auto fuel prices and is concerned about the rising prices.

Speaking at the sidelines of the American Chamber of Commerce in India AGM, he said: “We are concerned about the pinching price. A few months back, the government has lowered the excise duty. Some of the states have reduced their respective value added tax rates.”

“In the tax basket, there are two components, excise duty and state VAT. In the interest of the consumer, we have reduced the excise duty. Let’s see how things are moving. We have to maintain the fiscal balance. The government is collectively and keenly keeping a watch on the issue,” he said.

Petrol prices stood at Rs 74.63 a litre, while diesel stood at Rs 65.93 a litre in Delhi. Of this, the tax component on petrol stood at Rs 35.35 a litre, while it stood at Rs 25.04 a litre on diesel.

Pradhan said that he is hopeful that the Goods and Services Tax Council will bring auto fuel under the GST regime.

“There is a conscious stand by the Petroleum Ministry that it must come under the ambit of GST. But the right decision and the right place to answer is the GST council. I am confident that sooner or later they will have to do so.”

Highlighting the reason for a spurt in petrol and diesel prices, Pradhan said, “The OPEC’s decision of curtailing the production side, maintaining the cut situation of Venezuela, the sanction issue of Iran and the Syrian issue are heavily influencing geo-polity and the prices of oil. Everyday there is an upward trend, that is also impacting the Indian market.”

He said that India plans to network with consumer countries such as China, South Korea and Japan to collectively negotiate lower crude oil prices from producers.

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