EGoM meet on June…Will petrol and diesel prices be decontrolled?

An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is scheduled to meet on June 7, to decide on de-controlling the prices of petrol and diesel.

Besides freeing petrol and diesel prices from the government control, dealing with the revenue lost on selling domestic LPG and PDS kerosene below cost is also on agenda of the ministerial panel.

For petrol and diesel prices to be freed from government control, rates would have to be raised by over Rs6 a litre. Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum lose crores of rupees by selling fuel below cost.

According to the terms of reference (ToR), the EGoM is reportedly said to consider a pricing policy for petrol and diesel, including decontrol. The Kirit Parikh panel had also recommended an increase of Rs6 per litre of kerosene and Rs100 per cooking gas cylinder, apart from a Rs80,000 levy on diesel cars. A Rs20-25 per cylinder increase in LPG price may be approved, reports indicate.