Jet fuel (ATF) price on Wednesday was hiked by 4 per cent in line with firming international oil prices but petrol and diesel rates remained on freeze for a record 10th month in running. Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price was increased by Rs 4,218 per kilolitre, or 3.9 per cent, to Rs 1,12,356.77 per kl in the national capital, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. The increase follows three rounds of reduction since November.
The government should end subsidised domestic cooking gas (LPG) for people with income of more than Rs 6 lakh per annum, a Parliamentary Panel has suggested.
The state-owned refiner has offered 15,000 tonnes in a tender.
Congress president and United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has directed all party-ruled states to subsidise three additional cylinders a year for domestic liquefied petroleum gas, raising the cap on subsidised cylinders from six to nine.
Underrecovery from sensitive petroleum products seen at Rs 1,55,000 cr in current fiscal.
Taking suo moto cognisance of reports of the Centre's move -- ahead of Gujarat assembly polls -- to increase the cap on subsidised LPG cylinders, the Election Commission has directed it to stop the same forthwith. The Commission held an emergency meeting soon after the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas M Veerappa Moily said the government will raise the cap on the supply of subsidised cooking gas to nine cylinders per household a year from six at present.
The LPG model was launched a fortnight ago. Chevrolet is now hoping to rev up the car's sales with a diesel option in June.
The rising goods and services tax (GST) and personal income-tax collections may bolster the Narendra Modi government's ability to announce new schemes or enhance existing ones.
In order to cripple and check the activities of wilful tax defaulters, the Income Tax department has decided to "block" Permanent Account Number (PAN) of such entities, get their LPG subsidy cancelled and take measures to ensure that they are not sanctioned loans.
An unusual Congress protest against rising LPG prices.
Raise the price of diesel and restrict supply of subsidised LPG cylinder in a year to four per family, Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Panel suggested on Friday.
Now, non-subsidised liquefied petroleum gas price is hiked by Rs 26.5 per 14.2-kg cylinder.
The government on Tuesday ruled out any further increase in diesel and cooking fuel prices even though the current retail rates are lower than their cost of production.
The government is mulling building a Rs 2,760 crore (Rs 27.60 billion) strategic storage facility by 2007-08 to stock 45-days requirement of liquefied petroleum gas as cover for emergencies.
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd is to set up three liquefied petroleum gas bottling plants with an investment of Rs 55 crore (Rs 550 million) even as it plans to introduce the 5-kg LPG cylinders in the urban areas.
A CNN-IBN Urban India Ooinion Poll shows the recent economic reform move of the government has not gone down well with the urban India. The poll shows that while the price rise and corruption remain the major concerns for the urban India, there is also a massive anger over cap on LPG subsidy and diesel price hike among the people across the cities.
As other members of the government have pointed out -- Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh and Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu among them -- India cannot afford to delay increasing prices, given the ballooning subsidy bill.
The scarcity of resources is particularly evident in the case of Rajasthan compared to many other states.
Six non-BJP ruled states -- West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Kerala and Jharkhand -- have not reduced the VAT on petroleum products, leading to higher prices of petrol and diesel there, Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday. Puri said in Lok Sabha that the central government has reduced excise duty on petroleum products and some other states, following cues, reduced their Value Added Tax (VAT). Six states -- West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Kerala and Jharkhand -- have not reduced the VAT, he said amidst vocal protests by the opposition members.
The seeding of LPG database with Aadhar numbers is above 55 per cent and overall Aadhar penetration is 90 per cent in these districts.
The three state-owned fuel retailers have been "directed to stop supplies of LPG refills to households having multiple- connections for which no KYC (Know Your Customer) details have been received, with effect from June 1," a statement issued by Indian Oil Corporation, the nation's largest oil firm, said.
The government also withdrew the five per cent VAT on compressed natural gas besides bringing back the VAT for tea, coffee and cocoa to five per cent from the proposed 12.5 per cent.
With rupee falling to new lows, losses on diesel and cooking fuel have widened to their highest levels this year, upsetting the government's subsidy maths.
The government on Friday decontrolled petroleum prices to bring fuel costs in line with global oil rates after an Empowered Group of Ministers, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, met for the second time in less than three weeks to decide on raising fuel prices. Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee was absent again.
The government on Monday constituted an inter-ministerial task force under UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani for evolving mechanisms to provide direct subsidies on kerosene, cooking gas and fertilisers to intended beneficiaries.
Time opportune before state polls as inflation is moderating.
Modi said there has been a 'silent revolution'.
Referring to long-pending insurance bill, he said "we are on the verge" of opening the sector a little more.
Truck drivers protesting against a provision in the new penal law on hit-and-run road accidents, called off their strike in Nashik district of Maharashtra on Tuesday after the local authorities assured to look into their demands.
The government will phase out subsidies on LPG and kerosene by 2007, petroleum secretary S C Tripathi said on Friday.
The decision was taken at a full commission meeting held on Thursday under the chairmanship of Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath, and communicated to the Union Cabinet, which met to take a call on the matter.
The remarks came after former President Ram Nath Kovind was tasked with the responsibility of heading a committee to explore feasibility of "one nation, one election".
Maruti Udyog Ltd on Thursday launched an LPG variant of its commercial vehicle Omni Cargo, India's first clean fuel vehicle used for transport applications.
IndianOil Corp Ltd, for instance, saw a growth of around 22 per cent in volumes and nearly two per cent in its market share. It traded nearly 10,517 million tonnes (mt) of auto gas in December against 8,593 mt of auto gas in September.
The Reserve Bank on Friday retained the inflation forecast for 2023-24 at 5.4 per cent, and vowed to take timely measures to prevent any spillovers of global food and fuel price shocks. Stressing that the Reserve Bank has identified high inflation as a major risk to macroeconomic stability and sustainable growth, Governor Shaktikanta Das said the September retail inflation number may be lower than August and July prints. The headline inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) moderated to 4.6 per cent in first quarter of 2023-24 as compared to 7.3 per cent in the same period a year ago.
Government has begun drawing contingency plans to avert any shortage of domestic cooking gas as a result of go-slow agitation by employees of the country's largest oil company Indian Oil Corp.
The Oil Ministry will raise the cap on supply of subsidised cooking gas (LPG) to 9 cylinders per household in a year provided the Finance Ministry agrees to give an additional Rs 3,000 crore in 2012-13.
