INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
"There is no going back on deregulation of oil prices," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley saidNEW DELHI: The government on Saturday sought to
assure investors that it would not go back to regulating fuel prices, a day after oil company shares tumbled on concerns about a return to a
regime that has hurt their profits in the past
The government said on Thursday it was cutting petrol and diesel by 2.50 rupees per litre to help people struggling to pay fuel prices that
had climbed on the back of a rise in global crude prices and a weakening rupee
The move was seen as a reversal of a 2014 decision to scrap regulated fuel prices - a regime that was blamed for deterring state oil
marketing firms from expanding and for choking off investment in domestic oil fields by the biggest oil producer."Let me categorically
assure all that there is no going back on deregulation of oil prices," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in a Facebook post on
Saturday.Prime Minister Narendra Modi freed up the price of diesel in October 2014 after a decade of regulation, saying it would encourage
competition among vehicle fuel retailers and enhance efficiency in oil company services.Experts said it was one of his most far reaching
reforms after previous governments failed to free the price of diesel, the most widely used transport fuel
Petrol prices were freed up by the former Congress party government in 2010.The price cut reduced the government's excise duty by 1.50
rupees per litre and cut one rupee per litre on the amount charged by state-run oil marketing firms Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp
