-The Hindustan Times The government is planning to hike the price of subsidised LPG cylinders — capped at six a year — by Rs. 130 during January-March 2013. It also plans to hike diesel prices by Rs. 1.5 a litre every month, which will take the hike to Rs. 4.5 a litre during the period. On kerosene, the proposal is that the prices be either increased by 35 paise a litre per...

-PTI The oil ministry has proposed a Rs 3-4.50 per litre hike in diesel price and Rs 100 in LPG rates along with raising the number of subsidised cooking gas cylinders for households to nine a year from the current cap of six. The ministry has moved a note for consideration of the Cabinet proposing options for meeting a record Rs 160,000 crore deficit arising from selling auto and cooking fuels below...

-The Times of India Brace for higher fuel bills as the government has formally started the consultation process for raising diesel and cooking gas prices - the latter with an increased annual cap of nine subsidized refills - in line with the recommendations of a finance ministry panel. The committee under former bureaucrat Vijay Kelkar, tasked to suggest a roadmap for cutting fiscal deficit, has suggested raising diesel price periodically to align...

-Economic and Political Weekly The recent debate on the acceptability of foreign direct investment in the retail sector in India has been mostly political. It is necessary to look into the pros and cons of FDI in retail from a purely economic point of view. This article identifi es the safeguards that should be undertaken before allowing giant multinationals to function in the country. Abhirup Sarkar (abhirup@isical.ac.in) is with the Indian Statistical...

-PTI Describing the current economic situation as a difficult one, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday hinted at tough decisions like hike in energy prices and reduction of subsidies to achieve the growth target of 8 per cent in the 12th Five Year Plan. Inaugurating the National Development Council (NDC) meeting, Dr. Singh cautioned that “business as usual” policies will not be sufficient to achieve the scaled down growth target of 8...