No fuel price hike as of now

Throwing a spanner on widespread speculations on immediate fuel price hike, the government on Friday said there was no proposal to raise prices of petroleum products, but did not rule out taking the “difficult and painful” decision in the near future.

Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy said although the state-run fuel retailers are set to lose Rs 2 trillion in the current financial year on selling petro products below the market price, the government was delaying a decision on fuel price hike due to political opposition.