Close on the heels of Reliance Industries [Get Quote] chief Mukesh Ambani making a strong case for market determined price for gas, his younger brother Anil met top government officials on Thursday to press for affordable fuel price for power and fertiliser sectors. 

Ambani met Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar, Expenditure Secretary Sanjiv Misra and Fertiliser Secretary J Sreedhara Sarma to drum support against RIL's proposed pricing formula for natural gas from KG-D6 block off the east coast.

Sources said the younger of the Ambani siblings made a case with the officials, who are part of the panel formed to look into pricing of KG-D6 gas, that the gas price proposed by RIL would lead to high cost of power generation and jump in fertiliser subsidy.

Anil's meetings, the second in as many weeks, follows Mukesh Ambani explaining RIL's approach to gas pricing to these officials and Principal Secretary of the Prime Minister T K A Nair on July 10.

On the same day, Mukesh had also made a presentation to the CoS saying the $4.33 per million British thermal unit price of gas was arrived at in most transparent manner and was in accordance with exploration policy, under which RIL won KG-D6 block in global tender.

The sources said his pleas that government going back on its promise of marketing freedom would be retrograde, made Cabinet secretary observe that contractual obligations are sacrosanct.

The CoS has not yet firmed its views on the issue, a possible reason why a crucial meeting of Energy Coordination Committee, headed by Prime Minister, was postponed to next week. ECC was to meet today to review gas availability and pricing.

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