A moderate price hike for petrol and diesel is on the cards. M S Srinivasan, secretary, ministry of petroleum and natural gas, had last fortnight indicated that 'the hike would be just like the price of tea (Rs 2 to Rs 3).'
Uttam Ghosh's take on the plunging rupee and the dizzy rise in petrol and diesel prices.
An Empowered Group of Ministers, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, is likely to meet on May 21 to decide on freeing petrol and diesel prices from government control.
Petrol prices have been cut in small doses on 20 occasions.
Maruti is sticking to this strategy at a time when rival Hyundai is looking to make the most of the monopoly it will have in the compact diesel segment from April 1, 2020, when the BSVI emission norms kick in. The market leader's confidence stems from the rapid shift in favour of petrol in the PV segment. For newer models such as MG Hector and Seltos, nearly 75 per cent bookings are for petrol variants, Kia has 55 per cent from petrol variants. The change in customer preference from diesel variants to petrol has happened quickly over the past few years.
After diesel, the government is considering raising cooking gas (LPG) and kerosene rates in small doses of Rs 5 per cylinder and Rs 0.50-1 a litre every month to wipe out Rs 80,000 crore subsidy on the two fuels.
Not only do you need an effective and independent regulator, you also need competition to flourish.
The ministry, however, clarified that there was no change in the prices of kerosene and LPG.
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