Zeebiz Bureau
New Delhi: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Friday ruled out rollback of petrol and diesel price hike, saying the nation's fiscal condition did not permit him to do so.
Replying to the debate on Budget for 2010-11 in the Lok Sabha, Mukherjee said: "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."
"Kindly excuse me (from doing so)," he said.
Members of four Left parties and Samajwadi Party walked out of the Lok Sabha protesting the government's "lack of response" to their demand for a white paper on rise in prices of essential commodities, especially food articles.
Mukherjee had on February 26 while presenting the Budget for 2010-11 raised excise duty on petrol and diesel by Re 1 per litre and customs duty on the two from 2.5 percent to 7.5 percent. The twin proposals resulted in petrol prices going up by Rs 2.71 per litre in Delhi and diesel by Rs 2.55 a litre.
Virtually the entire Opposition had demanded that Mukherjee roll back at least the diesel price hike considering the cascading effect it would have on commodity prices, including food articles.
The Finance Minister agreed that the Budget proposals would have some inflationary impact.
He added that the worst is over for the Indian economy.
“The situation of uncertainty, prevalent in the country last year, is no longer relevant,” said the finance minister.
“Last year I proposed my budget against the backdrop of economic slowdown, worsening agricultural scenario and global financial crisis. But the scene has changed now,” said Mukherjee, justifying the controversial proposals in his Budget, including the fuel price hike.
He said the macro economy was improving and moving to higher growth trajectory was possible.
“It’s (7.2 percent growth) not my pipe dream, though I have given up smoking pipes,” said a witty Finance Minister.
The Central Statistical Organisation has projected the economy to grow by 7.2 percent in the current fiscal.
Mukherjee added that the rebound in the factory output underlines the resilience of Indian economy.
“The IIP (Index of Industrial Production) growth has crossed the 15-percent mark in two consecutive months (December and January) and it shows growth is driven not only by the government expenditure,” said the minister, adding: “The manufacturing and industrial sectors are also contributing.”
With PTI inputs
First Published: Friday, March 12, 2010, 20:46