-The Hindustan Times In response to the widespread protests and the nation-wide hartal last Thursday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressed the nation on Friday and tried to explain why these decisions had become inevitable. The thrust of his argument was, “We need a revival in investor confidence, domestically and globally.” For this, the current high fiscal deficit must be contained and, hence, the hike in the prices of diesel and cap on...

-The Times of India In a relief to consumers, the home minister P Chidambaram on Friday announced abolishment the import and excise duties on non-subsidized domestic LPG cylinders, bringing down their price by Rs 97 a unit in Delhi. It also asked states to subsidize LPG cylinders. The government had last week restricted supply of subsidized cooking gas to six per household in a year. Any requirement beyond this was to be...

-The Telegraph Non-subsidised domestic cooking gas will cost Rs 832 per cylinder in Calcutta following the Centre’s decision to forego customs and excise duties that add up to Rs 103.50 apiece. However, if the Bengal government drops local levies, consumers can save Rs 52.50 more as the price will fall further to about Rs 780 a cylinder. According to new rules, every family will have to pay the market rate once it crosses...

-PTI In a marginal relief to consumers, the government on Friday abolished import and excise duties on LPG cylinders they buy beyond the 6 per annum quota of subsidised cooking gas, and asked state governments to subsidise the requirements of households at their level. The government had last week restricted supply of subsidised cooking gas to 6 per household in a year. Any requirement beyond this was to be purchased at market...

-PTI HYDERABAD: Cash-starved Andhra Pradesh government is finding it tough to honour the Congress high command's directive on increasing the subsidised LPG quota from six to nine cylinders per family a year. The government, that is surviving by selling its securities every month to raise funds, is not in a position to foot the additional subsidy bill on LPG, sources said. Preliminary estimates suggest that the state government will have to bear a...