Pointing out that fiscal deficit was a cause of concern, C. Rangarajan, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, said on Friday that action on reducing fuel and fertilizer subsidies would be taken “as early as possible.”

“I would not like to put a time frame, I can only say that action will be needed and therefore will be taken as early as possible,” he told journalists on the sidelines of an event organised at the Indian Statistical Institute here to mark the birth anniversary of its founder, P.C. Mahalanobis.