Petroleum Minister Murli Deora today said the government was trying its best not to increase the prices of petroleum products. Deora will meet Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee tomorrow to seek higher subsidy for oil marketing companies (OMCs). He also said any decision on petroleum pricing would be taken up only after the Kirit Parikh committee submitted its report later this week.

Price hike required immediately, say executives.

Murli DeoraThe continued rally in international oil prices has turned diesel margins red. Oil companies are losing Rs 2.96 on sale of every litre of diesel sold in the fortnight beginning June 16. Diesel accounts for 39 per cent of total petroleum product consumption in the country.

Muzaffar Hussain Khan Magsi, chief of Seraiki Inqilabi Council, Rehmat-ullah Vardag, chief of Tehrik-i-Istaqlal, and Mansoor Ahmed Khan, chief of Pakistan Democratic Party, have said that the Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance, Shaukat Tarin was "a parrot of IMF", talking in its language.

Ajay Modi / New Delhi May 19, 2009, 0:27 IST

...but direct sales to industry remain sluggish.

Driven by rabi crop harvesting and general elections, consumption of petroleum products grew by 4.6 per cent in April, the second highest since September 2008, according to provisional data complied for the month by industry. The average growth during the year 2008-09 stood at 3.5 per cent.

Ajay Modi / New Delhi April 17, 2009, 0:59 IST