What is Hardeep Puri talking about when he says govt has 'sacrificed'?

The government’s claim that it has “taken a hit” on its finances to shield citizens from surging global crude prices has drawn sharp criticism, with the Congress — as well as members of the public — arguing that the real story lies in years of failing to pass on the benefits of cheaper oil to consumers.

Union petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri credited the Modi government with absorbing the fiscal burden of soaring international crude, which jumped from about $70 per barrel to as high as $122 in recent weeks amid the escalating Iran war.

According to the minister, the government reduced excise duty and imposed export levies to limit losses faced by oil marketing companies, framing the move as a decision to “take a hit” to protect citizens from global volatility.

However, Opposition leaders — and angry citizens in the comments section of Puri's X post — argue the claim of sacrifice glosses over a longer trend: when crude prices fell sharply in previous years, consumers rarely saw commensurate relief at the pump.

Congress leaders have pointed out that global crude prices declined on multiple occasions over the past decade, including periods when oil traded well below earlier peaks, yet retail fuel prices in India remained elevated as excise duties were repeatedly increased. Between 2014 and 2026, excise duty was revised 21 times, with 12 hikes, allowing the government to capture windfall gains when crude prices were relatively low.

Critics say this weakens the moral force of the government’s present argument that it is making a fiscal sacrifice. If tax collections were bolstered during periods of low crude prices, they argue, partial duty reductions during price spikes cannot credibly be presented as an act of generosity.

Congress media and publicity department chairman Pawan Khera described the government’s language as patronising, arguing that public revenue cannot be framed as the government’s personal largesse. He contended that portraying tax adjustments as benevolence “packages as charity what is in fact the basic responsibility of any government”, noting that public finances are derived from taxpayers.

The latest excise changes — cutting petrol duty to Rs 3 per litre from Rs 13 and eliminating the Rs 10 per litre duty on diesel — came even as retail pump prices remained unchanged, suggesting the immediate relief may accrue largely to oil marketing companies that have been absorbing losses amid price volatility.

Opposition leaders have also questioned the timing of such fiscal adjustments, arguing that past duty cuts have coincided with politically sensitive periods such as elections. They maintain that the structure of fuel taxation has allowed the government to retain a significant share of the benefit when crude prices fell, while invoking fiscal constraints when prices rose.

Another point of contention is the discounted crude India sourced from Russia in recent years. Critics argue that while refiners benefitted from lower input costs, the gains did not fully translate into lower retail fuel prices.

India imports roughly 88 per cent of its crude oil requirement, making domestic prices sensitive to global fluctuations, particularly amid disruptions linked to geopolitical tensions and supply constraints through key routes such as the Strait of Hormuz. International oil prices touched nearly $119 per barrel earlier this month before easing to around $100.

While the government maintains that its calibrated tax approach balances consumer protection with fiscal stability, critics argue the current narrative of sacrifice obscures a more fundamental question: whether consumers receive proportional relief when global energy prices fall, or whether tax policy has increasingly functioned as a buffer for government revenues rather than household budgets.