NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India is looking at ending subsidies on petrol and diesel retail prices but has no immediate plans to raise pump prices after the rise in global oil prices, Oil Minister Murli Deora said on Monday.
"Nothing is on cards as of now," Deora told Reuters when asked about reports retail petrol and diesel prices could be raised.
When asked if deregulation of fuel prices was still on agenda after the rise in crude oil prices to around $70 a barrel, Deora said: "I had said that this will be taken up in four to six weeks and we are still considering it".
The Indian government fixes the prices of petrol, diesel, cooking gas and kerosene sold by state firms to control inflation and help poor and middle-class households. It partly subsidises state-run firms for their losses, but not private companies.Private refiner Essar Oil Ltd (ESSAROIL.NS : 155.75 -3.7) last week raised the retail prices of auto fuels by 2.5-6.5 percent to keep pace with global crude oil prices , which have risen to around $70 a barrel from about $50 in late April
State-run upstream firms share one-third of the revenue losses of state-run oil retailers by offering discounts on crude sales. The government compensates for part of the remaining losses by issuing special bonds which the oil firms can sell.
Last week, an Indian Oil Corp official said state refiners were losing 6.08 rupees (13 cents) revenue on sales of a litre of petrol and 2.96 rupees on diesel sales.
source : http://in.biz.yahoo.com/090623/137/batry9.html
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