By IANS
New Delhi : The ministerial panel on fuel price failed to evolve a consensus over fuel price hike at its meeting late Thursday.
“The panel is expected to meet again in a couple of days to take a decision on this issue,” Petroleum Minister Murli Deora told reporters after the meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on oil pricing.
This was the first meeting of the GoM since Prime Minister Manmohan Singh constituted it last November, with a mandate to make recommendations on fuel price hike.
The meeting was scheduled for 12.45 p.m. Thursday but was deferred to the evening for some reasons.
The issue of fuel price hike assumed added urgency after the international crude prices breached the psychological level of $100 per barrel on New York Mercantile Exchange early this month.
According to the petroleum ministry, the combined under-recoveries of the state-owned oil marketing companies are projected to cross the Rs.700 billion mark if they are not allowed to raise prices.
So far, the government has issued oil bonds worth Rs.234 billion to help oil-marketing companies to reduce their under-recoveries.