Will not bow to any threat; gas prices will be hiked: Moily

Petroleum minister Moily on Friday lashed out at oil-import lobbies against alleged threats, reports CNBC-TV18's executive editor Shereen Bhan. "There are some lobbies at work. Every minister has been threatened. The decision-making process is obstructed and at times, aborted. However, Moily cannot be threatened," he told CNBC-TV18.

Also Read: Gas prices may rise next week as Moily turns heat on CCEA Moilys reaction came on allegations by Left leader Gurudas Dasgupta that the government’s decision to hike gas prices was to favour Reliance Industries. Moily added that the decision to hike gas prices had been extensively discussed by various quarters of the government and the Rangarajan Committee set up in 2012. The petroleum minister highlighted that move to rethink gas prices was led by the Prime Minister's statement that sought an alignment with market prices in order to facilitate investments into the sector. Moily has received the support of finance minister P Chidambaram who categorically stated that a decision on the hike in gas prices will be announced before the end of June. The government has actually reduced the Rangarajan Committee's suggested hike of USD 8 per mmbtu to USD 6.78 mmbtu.