The Indian government has reconstituted a ministerial panel on fuel pricing, but the grouping headed by finance minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee is unlikely to meet before Assembly elections in five states are completed in May.
A government official said that “Reconstitution of the Empowered Group of Ministers was necessitated due to the recent reshuffle in the union cabinet.”
The seven member group has seen two changes Mr S Jaipal Reddy replacing Mr Murli Deora after taking over as the Oil Ministry, while Mr Kamal Nath has given away to the new Road Transport and Highways Minister, Mr CP Joshi.
Other members of the EGoM remain the same Chemicals & Fertilizers Minister, Mr M K Alagiri represents the ruling UPA’s crucial ally DMK, while the NPC is represented by Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar in the panel. Power Minister, Mr Sushil Kumar Shinde and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia are the other members in the EGoM.
The official said though the EGoM has been reconstituted, the panel is unlikely to meet before May 13, when elections to assemblies in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal will have run their course. He said that “Diesel pricing is a hugely political sensitive decision and the ruling combine doesn’t want to take any chances in the Assembly polls.”
State run Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum are losing INR 4.03 per liter on petrol.
The official said that “Since June, the oil companies have chewed up about INR 2,000 crore losses... INR 400 crore is what these companies will lose in March alone.”
Chief executives of the three firms recently gave a presentation to the Oil Ministry on the quantum of losses they are suffering, but were not allowed to hike prices despite crude ruling at a two year high of over USD 110 per barrel.
The three firms had last hiked petrol prices by INR 2.50 per liter on January 15. Since deregulation of rates in June, the rates have gone up about INR 7 per liter in five installments to INR 58.37 per liter. Besides petrol, the three retailers are losing a record INR 12.56 a liter on diesel, INR 24.74 per liter on kerosene and INR 297.80 per 14.2 kg LPG cylinder.
The three firms are cumulatively losing INR 392 crore in revenue every day on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below cost, the official said that “For the full fiscal, the three are projected to lose INR 77,645 crore in revenues at current prices.”
(Sourced from BL)
