By Xinhua,
New Delhi : The Indian government is expected to make a decision soon on raising retail fuel prices and a compensation package for oil marketing companies, according to the NDTV Thursday.
The Indian government Thursday held a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to assess the situation arising from global crude oil prices’ record run.
The cabinet may decide later Thursday on the proposal to hike prices of petrol, diesel and LPG prices, as well as on reduction in excise duties, said the TV.
Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum currently lose close to Rs 58 billion (some 140 million U.S. dollars) per day on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene as they have been barred from raising prices in line with the rise in cost.
In the absence of a hike, state-run oil companies will run out of cash to import crude oil in the next two months.
Crude oil prices have more than doubled since February when petrol price rose by Rs two per litre and diesel by Re one per litre. Early this month, the prices breached 135 U.S. dollars a barrel mark.