Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government on Saturday approved raising natural gas price to USD 5.61 per mmBtu, much lesser than the gas pricing formula coined by C. Rangarajan Committee formed by the UPA regime.
"The price now fixed is USD 5.61 per mmBtu. This price will take into consideration of the fact that there is a sufficient incentive for drilling and investment as also it is not excessively burdensome as far as the consumers are concerned," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told the media here.
"To the pricing of the domestically produced gas, if you recollect the original price per unit, the unit being mmBtu was USD 4.2," he added.
Jaitley further said, "The Rangarajan committee had followed particular criteria and announced a price of USD 8.4 per mmBtu. This was to be implemented with effects from April 1, 2014. This implementation was halted by the Election Commission so that the new government can take a view on the matter."
The Congress-led UPA regime had in June last year approved a price formula suggested by a panel headed by C. Rangarajan and re-confirmed it in December 2013.
