|
Industry hails petrol price hike, seeks diesel subsidy
Binny Sharma
New Delhi
AT A time when the UPA government is facing a united opposition ambush on its steepest petrol price hike, industry lobby is seen supporting the central government.
Apex industry organisations are not only welcoming the hike in petrol prices but are also suggesting immediate phasing out of huge subsidy on diesel and LPG.
Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said that rationalisation of petroleum prices is one of the most important reforms that industry has been advocating.
“The current under-recoveries in diesel and LPG require immediate action to ensure that dual pricing of diesel is introduced, where non-farm use of diesel should have minimum subsidy,” he said adding, “The huge subsidy on urban use of LPG should also be phased out.”
India deregulated petrol prices in June 2010 but continues to subsidise kerosene, diesel and cooking gas to protect the poor from inflationary pressures.
Sharing similar sentiments, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said that petrol price hike would only partially cover the under-recoveries and the government needed to act on LPG, diesel and kerosene subsidies too.
fwletters@gmail.com
|
