Cold water has been poured yet another time on the government's plan of deregulating the oil sector and freeing up the oil prices. And this time around, there has been more than just one culprit. First is the fuel price itself. When the talk of de-regulation first started doing the rounds, oil prices were perched quite comfortably. However, with the same inching up and touching the government threshold mark of US$ 67 per barrel, politicians seemed to have developed cold feet. For they do not want to greet the public with a fuel price hike, which at the current crude oil price would have become imperative. Secondly, with elections staring in the face in one of the states and also with one of the government's biggest allies eyeing elections at its home state, price revision could prove counterproductive. The oil ministry however is unwilling to admit that its hands are tied and instead, giving out assurances that although the decontrol of oil prices is definitely on its agenda, its implementation will have to wait. That's what we have been doing all these years, haven't we?
It is important to look at the holistic picture and have an individual opinion rather than get swayed away by the public consensus. This is the view of the man who pioneered the retailing boom in India - Mr. Kishore Biyani, the founder of India’s largest retailing company - Pantaloon. In an article in the Wall street Journal, Mr. Biyani wrote, "Almost daily doses of bad news on television screens and newspapers have possibly done as much damage to the economy as the events on either side of the Atlantic." I completely agree with him. Mr. Biyani’s predicament is based on the fact that an overwhelming majority of Indian consumers are self-employed, who can neither get laid off nor can have pay cuts. Consider some statistics he has provided. The share of the national income represented by proprietor-run concerns and partnerships is 35%. The share of companies is around 15%, government around 25%, and agriculture around 25%. Combine agriculture and the self-employed in industry a...
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