Petroleum pricing quagmire

It's futile to insulate domestic consumers from international prices

The government of India decided to dismantle the administered pricing mechanism (APM) for petroleum products in 2002. According to the government notification issued then, from April 1, 2002, the pricing of petrol and diesel was freed, and the subsidy on domestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and kerosene (through the public distribution system, or PDS) was to be phased out over three to five years.

It is an irony that even after so many years of this, fuel prices in the country are yet to be market-determined. Before we come to the issues, a brief history of this decision and its implementation