Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Fuel Fuel price hike : Mamata, not Manmohan to decide

There is a story in The Business Standard about a fuel price hike. Here’s what it says:

With rupee depreciation leading to jump in oil import bill, Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy today said there is an immediate need to raise fuel prices, but refused to say when the hike will actually take place. "It (price increase) is very essential but (before hiking rates) we have to talk to political parties,” he told reporters…

What he probably means is that the government would need to check with Mamata Banerjee to see if they can go ahead with the fuel price hike !

There is another interesting aspect that comes out from Jaipal Reddy’s statement. Since petrol prices have been deregulated, what’s stopping oil companies from increasing petrol prices? Is it the government (read: Mamata) again ?