Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday (March 12) ruled out rollback of petrol and diesel price hike saying the nation's fiscal condition did not permit him to do so.
"I would have loved to respond to the request of the Opposition (for a rollback in auto fuel price hike, particularly diesel) but my financial condition does not permit me to do so," Mukherjee said while replying a debate in Lok Sabha, the lower house of Indian Parliament.
"Kindly excuse me (from doing so)," he added.
India raised retail motor fuel prices by up to 7.75 percent last week, the first hike since July last, a move that will add to already high headline inflation.
The budget announced by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday (February 26) restored a 5 percent import tax on crude oil, which was removed in 2008 when global prices were at record highs, as part of a broader effort to raise revenue and cut fiscal deficit.
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