Unfazed by the uproar over Foreign Direct Investment in retail and other tough decisions, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday indicated that the government may continue with the reforms process and expressed willingness to discuss issues with allies.
A bandh called by the National Democratic Alliance, Left parties and the Samajwadi Party to protest against diesel price hike, Foreign Direct Investment in multi-brand retail and cap on subsidised LPG on Thursday evoked mixed response as protestors disrupted road and rail traffic in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha but it had little impact in Mumbai.
According to reports, the Congress Core Group meet that lasted for almost two hours at the Prime Minister's 7, RCR residence saw the top party leaders deliberating over the political situation arising out of the Trinamool Congress's decision to withdraw support to UPA government.
Ahead of the crucial meeting of Trinamool Congress parliamentary party, prominent leader Saugata Roy indicated that party could pull out its ministers from the Union council of minister if its roll back demands on FDI in retail, cap on LPG subsidy and diesel price hike were not met with.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi held consultations with party leaders as the 72-hour deadline set by Trinamool Congress for rollback of diesel price hike, LPG subsidy cap and FDI in retail ended on Monday amid indications a worst case situation could be a pull out of union ministers by the key ally.
With the 72-hour deadline to the Centre to rollback diesel price hike, LPG subsidy cap and FDI in multi-brand retail expiring on Monday, the Trinamool Congress mounted fresh pressure with a Union minister belonging to it listing three options, including withdrawal of support to the United Progressive Alliance.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday announced that she would lead a party demonstration at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on October 1 to urge the Centre to withdraw "anti-people" decisions on Foreign Direct Investment in retail, cap on subsidised LPG and diesel price hike.
Indian Oil Corporation, the country's largest oil retailing firm, is seeking an increase of Rs 4 per litre and Rs 5 per litre in prices of petrol and diesel to recoup the Rs 489 crore
Upstream oil firms bear one-third of the revenue that retailers lose on selling diesel, domestic LPG and Kerosene at government-controlled rates.
With Trinamool's 72-hour deadline to the Centre to rollback diesel price hike, LPG subsidy cap and FDI in multi-brand retail coming to an end, opposition JD-U on Monday sought to reach out to Mamata Banerjee saying that she "sticks" to her stand.
"The UPA government showed its anti-people stance by increasing the prices of essential goods," said former AP chief minister Chandrababu Naidu.
Close on the heels of steep increase in diesel price and cap on supply of subsidised LPG, President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said greater alignment of domestic rates with global prices was in the interest of both consumers and investors.
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.
Prices of petrol were reduced 32 times and increased 21 times while diesel prices were slashed 19 times and raised 28 times since 2013.
The government on Monday decided to hike petrol price by Rs 4 a litre and diesel by Rs 2 per litre
OMCs are currently incurring daily under-recovery of Rs 230 crore.
Petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene prices are unlikely to be revised immediately as the Congress-led Government, which is yet to assume office
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora is likely to meet Finance Minister P Chidambaram later this week to seek greater compensation for oil companies, who are currently losing about Rs 450 crore (Rs 4.5 billion) a day on fuel sales. Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum are likely to see doubling of revenue loss on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and PDS kerosene to Rs 150,000 crore. The three fuel retailers together lost Rs 77,304.50 cr on fuel sale in 2007-08.
Moily insisted that no proposal has been moved to the Cabinet for raising diesel rates beyond the 40-50 paise a litre monthly increase, which has been implemented since January.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Tuesday said petrol and diesel prices will not be increased "as of now" even as he began consultations with Finance Minister P Chidambaram on ways of mitigating the spurt in global oil prices.
Gandhi was unusually more proactive and practically led the Opposition protest against the rise in the prices of petrol, diesel and LPG cylinders during the Question Hour.
Economists said the full cascading impact of the sharp raise in diesel, LPG and kerosene prices announced on May 24, would be visible from July onwards when inflation could touch the double digit mark.
Petrol price can go down to Rs 75 a litre across the country if brought under the ambit of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), but there is a lack of political will, which is keeping Indian oil product prices at one of the highest in the world, economists at SBI said on Thursday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's brother Prahlad Modi, who is also the vice president of All India Fair Price Shop Dealers' Federation, on Tuesday staged a dharna here with various demands of the organisation. Prahlad along with several other members of the All India Fair Price Shop Dealers' Federation (AIFPSDF) gathered at Jantar Mantar, holding banners and raising slogans.
The latest round of petrol and diesel price increase, on Thursday, met with opposition from many corners.
Moody's expects the new government to increase the retail selling prices of controlled fuel products -- kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas -- to help control its subsidy burden.
After a spike, losses on sale of diesel have fallen by nearly a rupee to Rs 2.49 per litre as international oil rates have moderated.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday demanded roll-back of the "unprecedented, anti-people" rail fare hike considering the problems faced by common people.
Petrol price on Friday crossed the Rs 100- per-litre mark in Chennai as well as in some places in Punjab and Kerala after fuel prices were hiked yet again. Petrol is priced at over Rs 99 a litre in Delhi and Kolkata -- the only metro cities which haven't seen the Rs 100 mark yet. Petrol price was hiked by 35 paise per litre on Friday but there was no change in diesel rates, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.
Petrol and diesel sales in the country fell in July over the previous month as the onset of monsoon chipped away demand in some sectors and restricted mobility, preliminary industry data showed. Diesel, the most widely used fuel in the country, saw consumption drop 13.1 per cent to 6.44 million tonnes from 7.39 million tonnes of demand in June. The arrival and intensity of monsoon weigh heavily on diesel demand in the country and consumption traditionally is lower in July-September than in April-June.
'I have no problems with the finance ministry or with state governments treating petrol pump prices as the last resort for meeting their ambitious spending targets with very limited revenue resources.' 'But let's do away with this smokescreen of free pricing of petrol and diesel and go back to administered pricing regime,' says Dr Sudhir Bisht.
The loss, which is made good through government subsidy, has declined since March as the rupee strengthened against the dollar and global oil prices softened.
Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party government for spurt in prices of essential commodities during its 45-day rule, Opposition Congress on Monday took potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for riding to power on promise of controlling inflation yet doing nothing on it.
The government has partially deregulated diesel price allowing a hike of 40-50 paise a litre per month for retail customers and nearly Rs 11 for bulk consumers, a step that is feared will have a cascading effect on inflation.
A look at the key decisions taken by the Narendra Modi government in its six months.
Irked by angry reactions to his Facebook post on 'World UFO Day' on Wednesday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley withdrew the message within hours.
The Sikkim Government has confirmed that 14 people have died so far in the flash floods that occurred in Sikkim in the early hours of Wednesday.
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