Partial rollback in LPG hike

8216;8216;It has been decided by the CCEA that the previous decision to raise LPG price by Rs 5 every month stands rescinded,8217;8217; Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said.

The price of no other petroleum product was being changed, he told reporters after the CCEA meeting.

Besides hiking LPG prices, the government had also raised diesel price by Rs 2.12 a litre and petrol by Rs 2.20 per litre on November 4. In the subsequent revision in prices on November 15, petrol prices were slashed by Rs 1.16 per litre but diesel was untouched.

Aiyar, who declined to give reasons on the LPG rollback, said all other decisions of the CCEA meeting on November 4 would stand.

Aiyar had told earlier that the present situation of linking only petrol to import parity price while keeping diesel, LPG and kerosene under price control has brought in some ambiguity in the pricing mechanism and needed to be rectified. But the CCEA8217;s decision to pull back LPG from being linked to import parity will only add to the ambiguity.

LPG prices are still short of import parity price by around Rs 138 per cylinder.

The government had earlier proposed to make up for this shortfall by hiking LPG price by Rs 5 per month.

Earlier in the day, the Left parties asked the government to reduce the LPG and diesel prices. In fact, when asked as to what was the outcome vis-a-vis the issues raised by the Left, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had stated that 8220;appropriate committees of the Union Cabinet will take decisions8221;.

The CPIM welcomed the rollback decision while adding that it would want diesel price also to be reduced in the wake of declining world crude prices.

Meanwhile, global crude oil prices have started showing signs of easing. On Wednesday, while London Brent eased to around 44 per barrel from Tuesday8217;s 45.75 per barrel, US Light also eased to around 49 per barrel from Tuesday8217;s close of 50.25 per barrel.