Singapore spot market, not production costs, driving Indian petrol price Have you ever wondered why when petrol prices go up or down they do so uniformly across the retail outlets of the three Oil Marketing Companies — Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum? If they are three different companies with their own refineries and distribution systems, then surely their costs and selling prices must be different? Welcome to the strange world...

Farmers are joining India Inc in mind, body and spirit. In a quiet revolution underway across the countryside, growers are setting up companies, replete with balance sheets, professional CEOs, board of directors, and income tax returns.  By pooling together the land and produce of their shareholders, these companies are signing lucrative deals with large retail chains, food companies and exporters keen to establish reliable supply chains. As many as 200 companies...

-The Hindu   Making it clear that it will not go into the policy mechanism of deregulation, the Supreme Court on Friday declined to entertain a public interest writ petition questioning the repeated hike in the price of petroleum products. Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia told counsel Upamanyu Hazarika, appearing for the All-India Youth Federation, “We cannot decide on pricing. It is a policy and legislative matter. We will not interfere in it. The...

-The Hindu   “Allowing oil firms to control market will hurt economy”   De-regulation by which the three public sector oil companies are empowered to set the price of petrol and other petroleum products has been challenged in a public interest litigation petition in the Supreme Court. The All India Youth Federation (AIYF), represented by its general secretary P. Sandoshkumar, said there was no rationale behind replacing the Administered Pricing Mechanism (APM) with the Import...

The acronym LPG has several expansions. It stands for liquefied petroleum gas. It stands for liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, a term of abuse used by those with Leftwing persuasions. It stands for life plundered by the government, sentiments associated with those who are against state intervention, but increasingly felt by the so-called middle class - however defined - because of price hikes, and proposed price hikes, for petroleum products. Ostensibly, price...