Oil Minister Jaipal Reddy on Friday confirmed that the government has no immediate plans to hike prices of kerosene, LPG and diesel fuels. However, the proposal to roll out a price hike is still in the pipeline, reports said.
Reddy said that the Cabinet should take a final call on the proposed hike on diesel, LPG and kerosene prices. The state-run oil companies have been pressing the government to increase fuel prices, owing to the significant losses incurred by these firms at a time when the country is witnessing a slow economic growth.
Earlier, it was said that the government has planned to hike the fuel prices by ₹5. Reports said that the government may announce the decision on Friday or Saturday, and the hike would go into effect starting next week. However, the fuel price hike is now put on hold.
India saw a steep hike in petrol prices in May this year, after Indian oil companies raised about ₹7.5 per litre, the steepest hike to date.
However, the government announced subsequent roll backs in the fuel prices by ₹2.46 following a ₹2.02 decrease in the same month, after drawing criticism from the public and opposition parties. The government announced further roll backs on June 3 and June 29, when fuel prices were brought down by ₹2.02 and ₹2.46 respectively.
