-The Economic Times Cooking gas dealers will no longer be able to enroll new customers as the government has centralised the process and asked the state firms to approve fresh applications after verifying that the applicant does not have multiple connections from different agencies. "Customers can submit applications for a new connection to a local distributor with valid documents but it will only be processed and approved by oil companies after verification...

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's direct involvement in the finance ministry has renewed reform vigour among officials, who plan steps to reform fuel pricing and accelerate domestic oil exploration, government and industry officials said. According to officials fuel pricing reforms are expected after mid July post Presidential poll, which would include a hike in diesel rates by atleast Rs 3 per litre and limiting highly subsidized cooking gas cylinders to four refills...

Plans are afoot to cap the number of subsidised LPG cylinders at six to eight per annum to reduce the losses of state-run oil firms and bring down the burgeoning subsidy bill. Oil ministry officials said consumers might have to pay more for every additional cylinder, and the amount would be gradually linked to market rates. Sources said the finance ministry had asked the oil ministry to revisit its proposal made last...

-The Hindu In yet another move to curb wasteful expenditure after launching an austerity drive in Ministries, Central departments as also autonomous bodies, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday pitched for streamlining the delivery mechanism for distributing subsidised commodities such as food ration, cooking gas and all other targeted government schemes for the ‘Aadhaar' platform. In a letter to Chief Ministers of 16 States and Union territories, Mr. Mukherjee said: “...given the...

-The Economic Times Open-ended consumption subsidies on petroleum products have wrought havoc on government finances. Reportedly, the trio of public sector oil marketing companies have of late blocked some 3.8 million parallel household connections of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), in a bid to rationalise the subsidy outgo. The move to weed out multiple LPG connections does make sense. But we need to keep the big picture in mind and overhaul the pricing and...