Fuel paradox: 6 more pvt players on cards, but price reins still with govt

Setting of retail prices, frequency with which they change and government increasing taxes when global prices are low all put a question mark on so-called market-linked pricing mechanism

The Indian automotive fuel market is hotting up with the Union government granting permission to seven entities to retail liquid and alternative fuel. Among those is Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) that needed the government re-approval because of a business restructuring. With this, there will be some 14 players in the domestic petroleum industry’s marketing business. Despite this, the government’s role in the pricing of fuel continues to be unclear.
 
Officially, the Union government maintains an arm’s-length relationship in the retail pricing of petrol, diesel and even compressed natural gas (CNG). Yet, it continues to have a say in what