Pahal looks to cut down diversion and eliminate duplicate.
Referring to long-pending insurance bill, he said "we are on the verge" of opening the sector a little more.
Notwithstanding the robust turnaround in the financial performance for the June quarter (Q1FY24), stocks of state-run oil marketing companies have been in a downtrend in the last month. The fall comes on a rise in crude oil prices that have surged to a 7-month high of $88 a barrel. A busy political calendar in the months ahead that may see the government keep a lid on auto fuel prices is also a dampener, analysts said. Shares of Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and Indian Oil (IOC) have shed 9-11 per cent since their respective earnings announcement between July 26 to August 4.
Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar on Thursday denied having presented to the Cabinet a proposal for raising LPG and kerosene prices.
Targeting Modi over inflation, Priyanka called him a "mehengai" man.
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.
After reducing duties on petroleum products, the Centre has now asked the states to follow suit.
Price of petrol may go up by Rs 4.70 a litre and diesel by Rs 2.30 a litre.
The saving in 2015-16 was about Rs 7,000 crore.
Underrecovery from sensitive petroleum products seen at Rs 1,55,000 cr in current fiscal.
The Union government is likely to cut import duties on diesel, kerosene and cooking gas to cushion the impact of high international crude oil prices on the domestic market.
With assembly polls in four crucial states in mind, the government has decided not to increase prices of cooking gas and kerosene for a year.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi discussed the Rs 225,040 crore (Rs 2250.40 billion) revenue loss oil PSUs face without raising price of petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene and duty cuts this fiscal on three occasions but failed to give a clear verdict.
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.
"The figure of $126 (256 minus 130) per barrel as conversion cost of refining crude to petroleum product appears to be fictitious and totally absurd, specially in India which is self-sufficient in respect of refining," the CPI-M MP said in the letter.
Every 10 per cent rise in crude oil price will shave off around 0.2 percentage point (pp) from India's GDP growth and widen the current account by 0.3 per cent, says Nomura.
Cooking gas price was on Saturday hiked by Rs 11.42 per cylinder following government decision to raise commission paid to the dealers.
The activist Birinchi Bora drove into the venue of the street play dramatically in a motorcycle with another actor dressed as Goddess Parvati for their play on Saturday which had several Hindutva outfits up in arms demanding their arrest.
"There is no immediate plan to decontrol diesel or LPG as they have cascading effect (on general prices)," Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas R P N Singh told reporters in New Delhi.
Gandhi also raised the issue of rising prices of LPG cylinders and said crores of beneficiaries of the Ujjawala scheme are not able to afford a refill.
The government on Tuesday ruled out any rollback of last month's increase in prices of petrol, diesel and LPG, and said a policy for pricing of major petroleum products was under review.
An increase in petrol, diesel, domestic cooking gas (LPG) and kerosene prices looks "imminent" after the Finance Ministry said it has no money to provide for fuel subsidy.
The expert group was tasked to suggest a methodology for pricing of diesel and cooking fuel.
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.
The government has chosen to profiteer off people's misery and suffering, Gandhi said.
The latest round of petrol and diesel price increase, on Thursday, met with opposition from many corners.
The cabinet committee on economic affairs will meet this evening to decide on the prices of petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene, petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said.
After making it available at petrol pumps, the convenient 5-kg cooking gas (LPG) cylinder will now be available at kirana stores and supermarkets in select cities.
Government-controlled oil-marketing companies (OMCs) have held back petrol and diesel price revisions for a week and are expected to continue doing so, ostensibly owing to political reasons. It appears that the Centre has informally conveyed to the three major OMCs to not revise fuel prices for the time being, two people in the government said. This informal directive follows the talks between the Centre and states on cutting taxes and bringing the auto fuels under the good service tax regime not fetching the desired results, so far.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee asked all chief ministers to reduce state levies on diesel, kerosene and cooking gas to mitigate the impact of the price hike on the common man.
The company, which is also looking to strengthen its position in the sports utility segment, today launched the automatic transmission four-wheel drive version of its popular sports utility vehicle Captiva, priced at Rs 20.3 lakhs (Rs 2.03 million). He said the company will be launching an LPG-driven car in the first half of this year, without specifying details, adding it would be followed by other LPG vehicles.
Narendra Modi's landslide victory gives him the mandate to deregulate diesel prices as well as raise natural gas rates with a clear road map towards free pricing to cut subsidies and shrink the budget deficit.
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.
State-run Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum are projected to lose Rs 1,28,135 crore (Rs 1,281.35 billion) on fuel sales this fiscal. IOC, BPCL and HPCL lost Rs 92,853 crore (Rs 928.53 billion) on fuel sales (audited figures) in April-September and are projected to lose Rs 35,282 crore (Rs 352.82 billion) in the second half of 2008-09 fiscal.
"At the moment there is no proposal before us for reducing prices," petroleum secretary R S Pandey told reporters in New Delhi. State-run oil retailers have started making profits on sale of petrol and diesel, but continue to incur hefty losses on domestic LPG and kerosene.
The protesters led by the state unit Bharatiya Janata Party chief C P Thakur burnt the effigy of the prime minister at the busy Dak Bungalow roundabout.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances