The Newshour Debate: Will LPG touch Rs 1000? - Part 2 of 2

  • 12 years ago
In a debate moderated by TIMES NOW's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, panelists -- Prasenjit Bose, Economist; Bibek Debroy, Economist; Mohandas Pai, Former Director HR, Infosys; Sajid Chenoy, Chief economist, JP Morgan and Dr Bejon Misra, Consumer Expert -- discuss whether the Govt is treading on thin political ice with non-subsidised LPG gas price nearing Rs 1000 per cylinder.

The price of non-subsidised cooking gas (LPG), which consumers buy beyond the cheaper quota of six cylinders, was today hiked by Rs 26.50 to Rs 922 per unit on firming international rates. The 14.2-kg cooking gas cylinder that consumers buy beyond their entitled six bottles at subsidised rates, will now cost Rs 922, up from Rs 895.50 in Delhi, according to Indian Oil Corp, the nation's largest fuel retailer. The government had in September restricted the supply of subsidised domestic LPG cylinders to six per household in a year. Any requirement above this will have to be bought at market rate, which is more than double the subsidised price of Rs 410.42 per cylinder in Delhi. State-owned oil firms revise rates of non-subsidised LPG on 1st of every month based on the average imported cost and rupee-US dollar rate during the previous month. There is no restriction on the number of non-subsidised cylinders that a consumer buys beyond the six subsidised bottles. BJP expressed its unhappiness over increase in price of non-subsidized LPG cylinders and asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress hief Sonia Gandhi to "break their silence" on price rise and scams in allocation of 2G spectrum and coal blocks. Criticising hike in price of non-subsidised cooking gas, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar said the decision will hit hard the common man as this will disturb their budgets.

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