English Article

Rise In Oil Prices

Fuel prices rising on Ukraine conflict.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sithararaman on Friday told the Lok Sabha that the Russia-Ukraine conflict was to blame for rising fuel prices and asserted that the government was committed to reducing the burden for the common man. Replying to the debate on the Finance Bill, 2022, which was passed by the Lower House, Ms. Sitharaman sought to counter Opposition criticism on high inflation and the lack of any tax relief for the middle class in the Budget by recalling a speech by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in which he had blamed the Korean war for soaring food prices in 1951. She also cited former PM Indira Gandhi’s decision to sharply raise income tax rates in 1970 to observe that unlike many developed nations, India had not raised taxes to finance pandemic spending and the economic recovery. The passage of the Bill, with 39 amendments including clarifications regarding the disallowance of cess and surcharges as a business expense, paves the way for the government to implement the provisions of the Union Budget from April 1. Responding to MPs’ comments about corporates getting lower tax rates, Ms. Sitharaman said the rate cuts announced in September 2019 had actually helped the economy, the government and the companies.