ATF or jet fuel price has been cut marginally while rate of non-subsidised cooking gas LPG has been hiked by Rs 27.50 a cylinder.
Over 12,450 LPG users have so far voluntarily given up their subsidies, but this accounts for only 0.008 per cent of about 15 crore (150 million) domestic cooking gas consumers in the country.
With the price of a cylinder touching Rs 800, it's becoming increasingly unaffordable to an already price-sensitive population, threatening to risk one of the most-celebrated campaigns of the Modi regime, reports Twesh Mishra.
#GiveItUp but no matching LPG connections for BPL
A 14.2-kg subsidised LPG cylinder will cost Rs 494.99 in Delhi, while non-subsidised LPG rates have been cut by a steep Rs 120.50 per cylinder
Reforms under the Modi government will maintain a slow and tentative pace, constantly wary of political opposition. It may not be reform by stealth, but it is reform on the quiet, says A K Bhattacharya.
The companies' underrecoveries stood at a whopping Rs 1,39,869 crore last financial year. Of that, Rs 62,837 crore was accounted for by diesel alone.
No immediate comment was available from airlines on the impact of the price hike on passenger fares.
ATF price in Delhi was reduced by Rs 4,765.5 per kilolitre (kl), or 11.9 per cent.
The price of non-subsidised LPG, which customers buy after using up their quota of 12 subsidised cylinders, was raised to Rs 922.50 per 14.2-kg cylinder in Delhi on July 1, the first hike in six months.
The Congress took out marches and observed bandh at several places on Saturday to protest against rising fuel prices.
The Opposition on its part wants to corner the government by raising issues like alleged shortcomings in the healthcare system during the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic and the distribution of Covid vaccines to states.
Indian growth in the rest of this fiscal year and next will be propelled by robust domestic consumption as consumer confidence improves, and by investment, including large increases in government capital expenditure, according to the Asian Development Outlook September 2023. "As slowing exports could foment headwinds for the economy, and erratic rainfall patterns are likely to undermine agricultural output, the growth forecast for FY2023 is revised down marginally to 6.3 per cent," ADB said.
The government should start with two assumptions: first, that oil prices are fundamentally unstable and susceptible to wide fluctuations, and second, that raising the prices of petroleum products is politically difficult.
In five monthly reduction, non-domestic LPG rates have been slashed by Rs 170.5 per cylinder, bringing the price at three-year lows.
Modi had last month launched the 'Give-it-Up' campaign.
The government on Thursday said it will "look into" a demand to raise the quota of subsidised LPG cylinders to 12 per household in a year from the current limit of nine, a day after the price of non-subsidised LPG was increased by a steep Rs 220.
Oil companies begin pilot testing work on direct LPG subsidy.
The Oil Ministry has proposed a Rs 3-4.50 per litre hike in diesel price and Rs 100 in LPG rates along with raising the number of subsidised cooking gas cylinders for households to nine a year from the current cap of six.
A newspaper vendor from Neknoor in Maharashtra tells Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar what he would like to see in Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget.
Underrecovery from sensitive petroleum products seen at Rs 1,55,000 cr in current fiscal.
Petroleum ministry expects that this would encourage the rich and affluent also to voluntarily give up the subsidised LPG.
With inflation, oil prices and interest rates rising, Indians are finding it extremely difficult to make ends meet.
LPG customers of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) will continue to get cooking gas subsidy post-privatisation of the nation's second-biggest fuel retailers, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Friday. "Subsidy on LPG is paid to consumers directly and not to any company. So the ownership of the company that sells LPG is not of any material consequence," Pradhan told PTI. The government gives 12 cooking gas (LPG) cylinders of 14.2-kg each to households in a year at a subsidised rate.
Taxability of LPG subsidy and other direct benefits paid directly into bank accounts of beneficiaries is unclear.
In a joint statement, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and others alleged that the UPA government has "stuck cruel blows on the people one after another" by raising diesel price, limiting subsidised cooking gas, opening up of multi-brand retail and disinvestment of PSUs.
These are initiatives not commonly seen in economic administration.
Govt unlikely to cut excise duties to compensate for higher global prices, say analysts.
Diesel and cooking gas (LPG) prices are unlikely to be hiked even after the end of the Monsoon Session of Parliament next week as the government is wary of taking such a decision at a time when it already has political battles on hand.
Embattled Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had declared a state of emergency with effect from May 6 midnight, the second time in just over a month amidst growing countrywide anti-government protests over the economic crisis.
It is the seventh reduction in jet fuel rates since August
This is the tenth hike in the price of petrol in just over a year. With this hike, inflation is likely to rise sharply once again.
Air fares to go up as ATF price is hiked by 8.2%.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and GAIL India are likely to give 33 per cent lesser discounts on crude oil and cooking gas to the state-owned refining and marketing companies than estimated as oil prices have tumbled in the last three months and the refiners have started making profits.
Facing criticism for increasing the retail price of petrol, government-owned Indian Oil Corporation has said the desired increase was actually Rs 3.72 a litre but it chose to "soften the impact on customer" by increasing the price by only Rs 2.50 a litre.
The saving in 2015-16 was about Rs 7,000 crore.
After Congress, the United Progressive Alliance on Thursday endorsed government's recent tough economic decisions and discussed the need "to do more reforms".
Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam, a key ally of the ruling United Progressive Alliance, on Tuesday announced its participation in the nation-wide bandh on September 20 called by several non-UPA parties to protest the Centre's decision to hike diesel price, allow FDI in multi-brand retail and limit subsidised cooking gas.
A 14.2-kg LPG cylinder that consumers will have to buy after they exhaust their enhanced quota of 9 subsidised bottles in a year, will cost Rs 942 from today, according to Indian Oil Corporation.
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