-The Times of India It appears to be one step forward and two steps back for the government in so far as pruning of fuel subsidy bill is concerned. The latest example is the oil ministry's order asking state-run fuel retailers to supply cooking gas cylinders at subsidized rate to non-domestic consumers such as canteens, medical institutions and mid-day meal kitchens. The order on cooking gas, issued on Tuesday, comes close on...

-The Hindu In his article in The Hindu (editorial page, “Making a mockery of domestic gas pricing,” January 18, 2013, Surya P. Sethi attacks the gas pricing formula proposed by the Rangarajan Committee, curiously enough, for being based on numbers from foreign markets that do not reflect the supply, demand or cost of production in India. I say “curiously” because on the exact opposite side, domestic producers are also pillorying the committee’s...

-The Hindu OMCs will revise price every month until losses are wiped out The Centre is seized of some State governments’ directive to their transport undertakings (STU) to line up at retail outlets for refuelling following the removal of subsidy for bulk consumers of Diesel, Petroleum Minister M. Veerappa Moily said on Friday. Talking to reporters here, Mr. Moily said he had heard that States such as Gujarat and Tamil Nadu had asked...

-The Business Standard The government runs out of money for fertiliser subsidy The government, according to recent newspaper reports, finds itself unable to clear the mounting subsidy dues of the fertiliser industry — the budgetary allocation for this purpose has already exhausted. This is as much a reflection on the shocking flaws in the Budget-making exercise for this financial year as on India’s misguided fertiliser subsidy policy. The arrears payable to...

-The Times of India Every few days, Rajkumar Sharma, manager of a group housing society in Noida, makes the mandatory trip to the nearby petrol pump to pick up his quota of Diesel. A few days back, even as he was on his 'Diesel duty' as he calls it, he was making some quick back-of-the-envelope calculations. "Our average monthly consumption is around 400 litres which means a monthly expenditure of around...