Parikh panel's plan to link gas prices to global crude comes a cropper

When the suggestion was made, crude was at a huge discount to gas; but now, with the unpredictable course of fossil fuel prices playing spoilsport, govt may be forced to do a rethink

India's idea or the idea of a high-level Indian committee's proposal to link gas prices to international crude oil benchmarks may have come unstuck after global gas prices plunged.

An expert committee, headed by former Planning Commission member Kirit Parikh, had recommended in November that domestic gas prices could be linked to crude instead of a basket of gas prices. When the recommendation was made, international crude oil prices were ruling at a significant discount to gas prices. The implicit idea was to keep gas prices relatively low. 

However, the unpredictable course of fossil fuel prices has played spoilsport and