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...

Amidst the raging politics on petroleum pricing, a report has established that the country was losing Rs. 87,500 crore because of poor roads and tolling systems annually. The figure gains significance against the backdrop of desperate attempts by the Union government to curb the subsidy outgo on petroleum products that puts a drain of about Rs. 1.38 lakh crore on the exchequer. Going by the report, prepared by IIM-Calcutta on behalf of...

-PTI Aiming to make Delhi the first kerosene free city in the country, Delhi government today announced a scheme under which cash subsidy of Rs 2,000 will be provided to each of the about 1.75 lakh households for obtaining an LPG connection and purchase of a gas stove. The ambitious scheme was announced by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit while presenting the annual budget for the year 2012-13. An amount of Rs...

Desired outcomes can be reached through a series of ‘imperfect’ small initiatives What is to be done? How can we untie the Gordian knot that has so entangled the political economy of petroleum product prices? This is the question that now exercises our most experienced politicians and our ablest economists. Most well informed people know that a country that imports 80 per cent of its oil requirements cannot de-link itself from the...

-The Business Standard Govt cannot delay increasing diesel, LPG prices Petroleum Minister Jaipal Reddy, speaking after a ministerial-level meeting on inflation on Monday, said that the government had no immediate plans to raise the administered prices of diesel, kerosene and domestic LPG (liquefied petroleum gas). This comes after oil marketing companies raised the price of petrol last week by Rs 7.50 per litre, an increase of 12 per cent. Mr Reddy’s...