Cabinet defers gas price hike decision by three months

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has deferred the decision to raise prices of locally produced gas by three months, the oil minister said on Wednesday.

"Comprehensive discussions are required on this issue," said Dharmendra Pradhan.

Currently, the bulk of domestic gas is sold at $4.2/mBtu, which producers Reliance Industries and state-run ONGC say is not enough to explore new areas of India's reserves.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma and Rajesh Kumar Singh in Delhi; editing by Malini Menon)