New Delhi [India], February 24 (ANI): Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs and Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, on Thursday, reiterated India’s place within the Russia-Ukraine warfare and stated, “this is not the time for war.”Speaking to ANI, Puri quoted the European ambassador’s assertion, “we don’t care where India buys energy from but think India can help in bringing resolution to what’s going on” and added, “India’s position is that this isn’t time for war.”On the eve of one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in an interview with a distinct media group, Ugo Astuto, the ambassador of the European Union, commented on India’s place in persevering with with procurement of crude oil from Russia and likewise appreciates New Delhi’s general stand on the Ukraine battle.
The Union Minister additionally stated that India will speed up the inexperienced transition and can go down the bio-fuels approach. “We’ve seen a news report that 38 per cent of additional sugar is going for ethanol production. We can see enthusiasm all around,” he added.
“There’s no country which has more potential for electric vehicles than India. Japanese and German manufacturers are bringing new electric vehicles, and there’s green hydrogen potential, CNG. India will go to be the laboratory case where we’ll find all these technologies,” Puri stated.
Earlier, in November 2022 additionally, Puri reiterated that India is underneath no ethical battle to cease shopping for oil from Russia.
Responding to a query by CNN’s Becky Anderson who questioned Puri on whether or not India had “qualms” over buying a lot from Russia, the minister stated: “Absolutely none, there is no moral conflict, if somebody wants to take an ideological position…We don’t buy from X or Y, we buy whatever is available. I don’t do the buying, it’s the oil companies who do the buying.”Puri defended India’s purchases stating that India solely purchased 0.2 per cent, not 2 per cent of Russian oil and it buys 1 / 4 of what Europe buys in a single afternoon.
Asked whether or not India is benefitting from discounted charges of Russia, Puri stated, “Let me first try and correct your perspective, we ended the financial year 2022, the purchases of Russian oil were not 2 per cent, it was 0.2 per cent. Moreover, we still buy a quarter of what Europe buys in one afternoon. So, let’s be very clear about what the perspective is.”Asked about India’s backup plan if the West decides to tighten the oil ban from Russia, Puri stated “We have many backup plans, I don’t look at the way you are looking at it. We have healthy discussions going on with the US and Europe. We don’t feel any pressure, Modi’s government doesn’t feel the pressure. We are the fifth largest economy in the world, and we are the one country, which is making the transition. When you have an increase in the oil prices, they have consequences – one of them is – there will be inflation and recession, another is we will make the transition in green energy.” The union minister additionally cleared the air about Russia being the most important provider of oil to India. (ANI)