Tata-Bangla talks falter over gas price

The latest rounds of talks between the Bangladesh government and the Tata group for the latter's Rs 9,000 crore investment in the country did not make any headway with both the parties failing to reach an agreement on the pricing of gas.

"The Tata group will send a summary of the best possible proposal to the Bangladesh government within a fortnight on the critical gas price issue," Tata Sons Executive Director Alan Rosling told Business Standard.

The gas price issue was a bone of contention between the negotiating parties in the latest and fourth round of talks, which ended inconclusively on Tuesday.

The Tata group had offered to pay $1.50 per thousand cubic feet of gas for guaranteed supply, while the Bangladesh government asked for at least $2 for non-guaranteed and $3.5 for guaranteed supply of the fuel. This was the first time that the two sides had substantially talked on the issue.