No decision on fuel price hike

The first meeting of the group of ministers (GoM) to look into the fuel price hike held today was inconclusive.

"The meeting was inconclusive. We have decided to meet again, the date is undecided as yet," petroleum minister Murli Deora told reporters after attending the GoM meeting, headed by external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee.

The hike has been necessitated by the sharp increase in crude oil prices which has increased the gap between the actual subsidised selling price of petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG and the desired selling price.

This gap is Rs 10.57 per litre for petrol, Rs 11.55 per litre for diesel and Rs 19.90 for kerosene. In case of LPG, the gap is Rs 331 per cylinder.

As a result, the three oil marketing companies "� Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum "� are losing around Rs 320 crore per day by selling subsidised prices.

The oil marketing companies, who are projected to lose nearly Rs 70,000 crore during the current fiscal year