-PTI   Spiralling international oil prices have put a strain on the country's import bill Stating that India faces "formidable" challenges on the energy front, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said spiralling international oil prices have put a strain on the country's import bill and domestic prices need to be rationalised. "With imports accounting for about 80% of our crude supplies, the spiralling prices of crude in the international market have put a...

-PTI The government on Tuesday said it has agreed in-principle to deregulate diesel prices, but is not considering similar proposal for the cooking gas.  "Government has, in principle, agreed to make the prices of diesel market determined," Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.  While petrol prices are market-linked, the government fixes the rates of LPG, kerosene and diesel, which results in a...

-PTI While petrol prices are market-linked, govt fixes LPG, kerosene and diesel rates, which results in huge expenditure on subsidies Making a case for raising prices of diesel, kerosene and LPG, the Reserve Bank today said hike in rates of petroleum products is necessary to arrest fiscal slippages. "Overall from the perspective of vulnerabilities emerging from the fiscal and current account deficits, it is imperative for macroeconomic stability that administered prices of petroleum...

-The Times of India   The Supreme Court on Monday said pricing of petrol and diesel determined by a complex mechanism fell exclusively within executive's policy domain and refused to entertain a public interest litigation demanding rollback of repeated sharp hikes in motor fuel prices.  Ex-MP P C Thomas had filed the appeal in the apex court challenging a Kerala high court's decision to dismiss his PIL questioning "irrational and hypothetical fixation of...

One man’s fiscal problem is another man’s lifeline. Trigger happy bureaucrats and economists may love shooting down subsidies because it bloats the fiscal deficit and burdens the government but the simple fact is that in a one billion strong nation, in which nearly one in every three live below the poverty line, one needs an effective and efficient method through which privileged tax payers can support the poor. Last week, finance...