Pranab rules out dual pricing for diesel

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has ruled out dual pricing for diesel, which could have made passenger car owners pay higher price for the fuel.

“There are no proposals for introducing dual pricing for diesel,” the finance minister said while addressing a Confederation of Indian Industries function on two decades of Economic Reforms.

Mukherjee’s statement was a clear U-turn from what he had said in Parliament that the government could consider a proposal to remove subsidy on diesel for passenger cars. He sought to allay apprehensions in the corporate sector that reforms have come to a halt.  “I have no hesitation in saying that the process of economic reforms in India is irreversible,” Mukherjee said.

The economic stakeholders should not fear introduction of any regressive policy measures at any point of time. “We have to deepen the policy reforms in the financial sector and address gaps in the overall economic regulatory architecture,” he said.