India appoints new committee on fuel pricing reforms

In a bid to rationalize the pricing structure of automobile and cooking fuels, the Indian government has constituted an expert group of five members to be headed by Kirit S Parikh. The members of the committee are Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations Chairperson Isher Judge Ahluwalia, National Council of Applied Economic Research Director General Suman K Bery and the secretaries of the ministries of finance and petroleum. Parikh, a former member of the Planning Commission, is accredited with launching the Integrated Energy Policy (IEP). This expert group will be the third committee on the concerned issue after the recommendations of the Rangarajan committee and the Chaturvedi committee could not be fully implemented. The expert group is expected to advise on viable and sustainable systems of pricing of petroleum products and examine the current pricing policy of petrol, diesel, domestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and kerosene. (September 4, 2009)