Bowing to party pressure, the government on Thursday raised the quota of subsidised LPG to 12 cylinders per household in a year from nine at present and also put on hold paying users the subsidy into bank accounts using Aadhaar platform.
With only months to go for the general elections, the new environment minister has gone into overdrive to clear projects.
If the quota is raised to 12, about 97 per cent of the LPG consumers would be covered by subsidised LPG.
In September 2012, the government had capped the number of LPG cylinders at six to reduce the subsidy burden.
The ruling United Progressive Alliance's political leadership is holding consultations on options like raising diesel and LPG prices to cut an unprecedented Rs 160,000 crore (Rs 1,600 billion) revenue loss expected from selling auto and cooking fuel below cost this fiscal.
Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and Left parties on Friday slammed Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily for claiming to be under threat from oil import lobby, saying that the minister was concocting a story to help private firms gain from his proposal to raise natural gas prices.
The Election Commission on Wednesday strongly disapproved Oil Minister Veerappa Moily's announcement of raising subsidised LPG quota ahead of Gujarat elections and asked him to be circumspect in future.
Karnataka will be re-emerge as an IT superpower and will make India proud, Union Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily has said as he accused the previous Bharatiya Janata Party government of damaging the state's image as an investment destination.
Internal fight within the Congress for chief ministership gained full speed Thursday as contenders sought to vigorously push their claim in behind-the-scene action, with Siddaramaiah and M Mallikarjuna Kharge still seen as front-runners.
Salman Khurshid was on Sunday made the external affairs minister and Veerappa Moily given petroleum portfolio as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh undertook a major reshuffle of Council of Ministers and inducted 17 new faces.
Is Chiranjeevi the tourism ministry's secret weapon? Why is Vijay Mallya upset with Veerappa Moily? What in-house problem is the railway minister grappling with? All this, and more, in this week's Dilli Gupshup...
There is eight per cent quota for former defence personnel and employees of central and state public-sector undertakings.
Power plants, involving investments of Rs 100,000 crore, facing closure.
Ghulam Nabi Azad's resignation from the Congress on Friday marked the most high-profile exit of one of the "Group of 23" (G-23) leaders, who had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi two years ago for a "collective and inclusive leadership" in the organisation, exposing the faultlines in the grand old party.
With CAG alleging that Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Industries was delaying furnishing of records for audit, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily on Friday said there was no problem and "everybody" was cooperating.
A day after changes in their portfolios, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde took charge of their respective ministries.
P Chidambaram was on Tuesday made the finance minister as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh undertook a minor reshuffle in portfolios in the Union Cabinet, necessitated by the exit of Pranab Mukherjee in June. According to the announcement, Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde is the new home minister in place of Chidambaram.
After five years of stay in the 340-room Presidential mansion, Pratibha Patil on Wednesday moved to a four bedroom bungalow here at a high-security area in the heart of the capital.
Govt approved a formula, not a price; PetroMin says a substantial rise was inevitable.
Veerappa Moily's allegation that an import lobby was against an increase in gas prices has found no takers among sectoral experts.
Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily on Friday said petroleum ministers are "threatened" by import lobbies not to take decisions that will cut India's $160 billion oil imports.
Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily today took potshots at the BJP patriarch L K Advani saying he was responsible for nurturing Narendra Modi on whose elevation his is now sulking.
Corporate Affairs Minister Veerappa Moily on Tuesday lashed out at global credit rating agency Standard and Poor's (S&P) for describing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as "unelected" leader and saying the comment "smacked of politics".
It said the Congress will infuse new blood in leadership roles without creating new fault lines and cementing its ideological moorings.
A day after Election Commission rap, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily on Wednesday said the government has not yet taken any decision on raising cap on supply of subsidised LPG cylinders and the EC would have been informed before announcing any decision.
With media reports alleging dubious funding for companies run by BJP chief Nitin Gadkari, the government on Tuesday said it will inquire into the issue, a stand BJP attacked as being "selective".
LPG alone will save us Rs 8,000 cr a year: M Veerappa Moily.
Use of Iranian crude oil in Indian refineries came down by over a quarter in 2012-13.
The ministry is in consultation with various other stakeholders and ministries on this and the department of financial services was working on the proposal.
Refuting allegation of misusing position to get corporate funding for his family-run NGO, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily on Wednesday said he had at no point extended any help or favour to any company for seeking aid.
The proposed National Competition Policy may help in tackling inflation by creating a fair playing field for producers, farmers and traders, Corporate Affairs Minister Veerappa Moily said on Friday.
Dudley and Ambani, assisted by BP India head Sashi Mukundan and RIL Executive Director P M S Prasad, primarily discussed RIL-BP's oil and gas investments at the meeting that lasted nearly one-and-half hour.
Diesel is currently sold at a loss of over Rs 10.80 per litre.
Those losses, or 'under-recoveries', are of course eventually covered partly by the central government, and are the most potent contributor to India's problems with its fiscal deficit.
India's policy to subsidise retail prices of fuels such as diesel, which accounts for about 40 per cent of refined fuel consumption, is a major drain on the budget.
There will be no change in LPG and kerosene rates, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily told reporters in New Delhi after the meeting on Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs. "I am happy to inform the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs has decided to raise the cap on subsidised LPG to nine cylinders per household in a year from existing six cylinders," he said.
The Oil Ministry, which had been sitting on the proposal for over a year, wrote to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons earlier this week saying that it has been decided to permit exploration in already producing oil and gas fields, sources privy to the development said.
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.
