-The Telegraph Calcutta: Demand for commercial gas has risen sharply in Bengal, prompting suggestions that the subsidy cap on domestic cylinders has unmasked one of the worst-kept secrets in the country. The sudden spurt is being attributed to demand from commercial establishments and auto-rickshaws that were so far depending heavily on the subsidised cooking gas rampantly pilfered from the domestic segment. “We have been selling 6,000 (commercial) cylinders a day (to establishments) after...

-CNN-IBN A kind of McCarthyism seems to be operating in the country. Just as the US Senator who gave the term its name saw communists lurking everywhere in the early 1950s, Arvind Kejriwal sees corruption behind every deal. He wants electricity consumers in Delhi not to pay bills, claiming that they are over-stated. He cites the cut in tariff which the former chairman of Delhi's electricity regulatory commission, Berjinder Singh, had recommended....

-Pragativadi Bhubaneswar: With the Centre restricting subsidised cooking gas cylinders to six per year, the Odisha government has been contemplating to provide certain relief to BPL families having LPG connections. The food, supplies and Consumer welfare department has, sources said, undertaken an exercise with the LPG providing oil companies to work out a strategy for the purpose. Before taking any decision, the state government has proposed to seek information from the oil marketing...

-The Hindustan Times The industries opened up to foreign investment in the past 20 days produce less than a tenth of India's national income. On the face of it, this number is too small to justify the opposition to foreign direct investment (FDI) in supermarkets, airlines, insurance and pensions. Or the government's resolve to open these businesses to foreigners with or without majority control. The picture changes when you see how fast...

-The Business Standard Skimmed milk powder 'buffer' might raise prices  The government’s proposal that a buffer stock of skimmed milk powder (SMP) be created in order to minimise volatility in milk prices is so unsound a proposition that it should be shelved. The proposal, sent to the inter-ministerial group on inflation by the food ministry, involves keeping a reserve stock of SMP with milk-processing units by offering them a handsome subsidy. The...