Govt hints at hike in petrol, gas prices

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Union minister for petroleum, Jaipal Reddy, said, “Our government initiated gas pricing policy reforms to incentivise production of natural gas. We are aware that remunerative energy prices are needed to ensure expanded energy supplies. The government is committed to taking all possible steps to find viable solutions to meet the concerns of the gas industry.”

Commenting on the PM’s statement, Reddy said, “The PM has made a general statement. I should not try and elaborate on it without working out the details.”

Though the oil minister admitted that the deregulation process had taken a pause, Reddy affirmed that the government was keen on fully deregulating petrol.

“Oil, petrol continues to be deregulated. However, there was some kind of discontinuation of deregulation. But we'll have to go back to deregulation fully. We are taking various factors into consideration. As of now, we are not contemplating regulation of petrol.”

Meanwhile, Indian Oil Corporation chairman RS Butola said that PSU has adopted a wait-and-watch policy till the end of March before taking a decision on hiking petrol prices.