India fuel prices stable despite crude volatility, says Puri

The minister said refiners were still working through crude inventories bought at higher prices. Once lower-priced crude reaches them, fuel prices could soften.

“At present, companies have stocks of crude oil bought at higher prices. When crude purchased at lower prices reaches them, there is a possibility of a reduction in fuel prices,” he said.

Puri was in Sonbhadra as part of a campaign marking 12 years of the Narendra Modi government. He said the district had taken the top spot in the government’s Delta Ranking programme and was shedding its image as a backward region. Sonbhadra’s per capita income had risen from Rs 43,000 in 2018 to about Rs 1.2 lakh now, he said.

Uttar Pradesh’s gross state domestic product had climbed from roughly Rs 13 lakh crore in 2016-17 to nearly Rs 36 lakh crore, Puri said. More than 23,000 startups, over nine lakh government jobs through transparent recruitment, and the One District One Product scheme had turned the state into a growth engine, he added.

“Ayodhya, Kashi and Prayagraj are emerging as world-class spiritual and tourism centres,” Puri said, citing the Ram Temple, Kashi Vishwanath Corridor and Mahakumbh infrastructure as drivers of tourism and local employment.

India had become a USD 4-trillion economy from the world’s 11th largest in 2014, he said, and was advancing rapidly toward becoming the third-largest economy globally.