We are not considering hike in diesel, LPG prices: Reddy
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"We
are not considering hike prices of diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene.
It is out of question right now," Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy told
reporters after a meeting called by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to
discuss the impact of fuel price hike on inflation.
Chief Economic Adviser Kaushik Basu was also present at the inter-ministerial grouping on inflation.
Reddy
said no dates have yet been fixed for convening a meeting of a
ministerial panel to decide on revising rates of diesel, LPG and
kerosene.
The
Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on fuel prices, headed by
Mukherjee, hasn't met since June last year even though depreciation in
the rupee and rise in international oil prices have raised the cost of
imports.
"It
was only a meeting of the inter-ministerial group to look at the
question of inflation. I was requested to come and offer my insights
before they finalise their group recommendations," Reddy said in New Delhi on Monday.
"I
focused on the price of diesel and its impact on inflation as a whole,"
he said without elaborating. "No date has been fixed for EGoM on diesel
price deregulation."
The
EGoM had in June 2010 taken an in-principle decision to deregulate or
decontrol diesel prices but its implementation was deferred.
"In my perception, the EGoM will not meet soon... certainly not this month," an official said.
"I am not going to touch the prices of LPG, diesel, kerosene. Period," Reddy said.
The minister had last week stated that he was urging Mukherjee to convene meeting of EGoM soon.
Reddy
said he was not considering dual pricing of diesel -- subsidised price
for trucks and another rate for high-end luxury cars and power gensets,
as it was not practical to implement.
Also, his proposal for levying a one-time duty of Rs 80,000 on diesel cars was under consideration of the Finance Ministry.
Reddy
had stated last year, "The logic in favour of increase in price of
diesel is unassailable but politics and logic don't go together.
"What is desirable is known. Politics is the art of making desirable (politically) acceptable."
State-owned oil companies currently lose Rs 512 crore per day on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene.
Diesel
is currently sold at a loss of Rs 15.35 a litre, kerosene at Rs 32.98
per litre loss and oil firms lose Rs 479 on sale of every 14.2-kg
domestic LPG cylinder.
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