Skip to main content

LPG decision retrograde: FICCI

Leading business chambers and rating agencies have termed retrograde the Cabinet decision to raise the number of subsidised LPG cylinders from nine to 12 per household a year, and said it would hit oil
marketing companies (OMCs).
In a statement here on Friday, Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Sidharth Birla said raising the quota and delinking LPG subsidy from Aadhaar were economically retrograde at a time when fiscal considerations must be balanced with welfare measures.
“FICCI believes that the rollout of the direct cash transfer scheme last year was a step in the right direction. We need to recognise that implementation is a drawn-out process and cannot be without glitches. We do not have the luxury of taking two steps forward, one step back.”
Subsidy burden up
Global credit rating agency ICRA termed the Cabinet decision credit negative for the OMCs. “The hike in [LPG] quota is expected to increase the subsidy burden by Rs. 5,000 crore on an annual basis and adversely impact state-run OMCs, which are already reeling under a very high subsidy burden, aggravated by elevated crude oil prices and depreciation of the rupee,” it said in a statement.
The move could also result in diversion of subsidised LPG to the commercial sector and shift the burden of LPG subsidy on the OMCs, ICRA said. Its senior vice president and co-head, Corporate Ratings, K. Ravichandran, said the increase in under-recoveries of the OMCs, coupled with delays in compensation by the government, was likely to strain the OMCs’ finances further.

  • Decision on cash transfer was a right move: chamber

  • OMCs will be hit hard, says rating agency
  • Comments

    Popular posts from this blog

    NGT terminates chairmen of pollution control boards in 10 states (downtoearth,)

    Cracking the whip on 10 State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) for ad-hoc appointments, the National Green Tribunal has ordered the termination of Chairpersons of these regulatory authorities. The concerned states are Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Rajasthan, Telangana, Haryana, Maharashtra and Manipur. The order was given last week by the principal bench of the NGT, chaired by Justice Swatanter Kumar. The recent order of June 8, 2017, comes as a follow-up to an NGT judgment given in August 2016. In that judgment, the NGT had issued directions on appointments of Chairmen and Member Secretaries of the SPCBs, emphasising on crucial roles they have in pollution control and abatement. It then specified required qualifications as well as tenure of the authorities. States were required to act on the orders within three months and frame Rules for appointment [See Box: Highlights of the NGT judgment of 2016 on criteria for SPCB chairperson appointment]. Having

    High dose of Vitamin C and B3 can kill colon cancer cells: study (downtoearth)

    In a first, a team of researchers has found that high doses of Vitamin C and niacin or Vitamin B3 can kill cancer stem cells. A study published in Cell Biology International showed the opposing effects of low and high dose of vitamin C and vitamin B3 on colon cancer stem cells. Led by Bipasha Bose and Sudheer Shenoy, the team found that while low doses (5-25 micromolar) of Vitamin C and B3 proliferate colon cancer stem cells, high doses (100 to 1,000 micromolar) killed cancer stem cells. Such high doses of vitamins can only be achieved through intravenous injections in colon cancer patients. The third leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, colon cancer can be prevented by an intake of dietary fibre and lifestyle changes. While the next step of the researchers is to delineate the mechanisms involved in such opposing effects, they also hope to establish a therapeutic dose of Vitamin C and B3 for colon cancer stem cell therapy. “If the therapeutic dose gets validated under in vivo

    SC asks Centre to strike a balance on Rohingya issue (.hindu)

    Supreme Court orally indicates that the government should not deport Rohingya “now” as the Centre prevails over it to not record any such views in its formal order, citing “international ramifications”. The Supreme Court on Friday came close to ordering the government not to deport the Rohingya. It finally settled on merely observing that a balance should be struck between humanitarian concern for the community and the country's national security and economic interests. The court was hearing a bunch of petitions, one filed by persons within the Rohingya community, against a proposed move to deport over 40,000 Rohingya refugees. A three-judge Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, began by orally indicating that the government should not deport Rohingya “now”, but the government prevailed on the court to not pass any formal order, citing “international ramifications”. With this, the status quo continues even though the court gave the community liberty to approach i