New Delhi, January 03: Prime Minister’s economic advisory panel (PMEAC) has said a hike in diesel prices may be deferred to next fiscal due to high inflation rate.
“Perhaps, if by March 2011, the inflation rate comes to about 6 per cent, perhaps that may be the time at which they may revise the diesel prices,” PMEAC chairman C Rangarajan told PTI.
A meeting of a ministerial panel headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, to consider raising diesel price by at least Rs 2 a litre, was deferred twice last month and no new date has been notified yet.
State oil firms currently sell diesel, the most consumed fuel in the country, at a loss of Rs 6.99 a litre and have been pressing for an increase in retail prices to narrow the losses.
–Agencies