Concerned over the cascading impact of doubling of gas rates on power tariff, urea cost and retail price of CNG and piped cooking gas, the government has planned to set up a panel to review natural gas pricing, including the UPA-approved Rangarajan Formula. The panel will be headed by former power minister Suresh Prabhu and submit its report by August 31.
The government doesn’t want to add to already high inflation, which may accelerate due to a below-normal monsoon and a spike in oil prices due to geo-political tensions. If the Rangarajan formula is implemented without changes, power tariff will rise by about Rs 2 per unit and CNG rates will jump by over Rs 12 per kg in national capital Delhi. Earlier, the government had decided to implement Rangarajan formula from April 1 but with general elections being declared it was postponed by three months to July 1. Further, new government had on June 25 deferred implementation of the Rangarajan formula and asked gas producers to keep selling at the old price of $4.2 per unit until the end of September.
In June 2013, the previous government had approved the Rangarajan formula under which domestically produced gas was to be priced at an average of the price prevailing at international gas trading hubs and the actual cost of importing liquid gas (LNG). Under the Rangarajan formula, the gas prices were to double to $8.8 per million British thermal unit from the current price at $4.20 per mbtu that would have put excessive burden on consumers. Gas prices were to be revised on the quarterly basis and price for each quarter, prices were to be calculated based on the 12-month trailing average price with a lag of one quarter. Natural gas pricing formula was planned to be implemented for a period of five years. The prices were to be uniformly implemented to all public and private sector producers such as ONGC and Reliance Industries. Further, the Rangarajan formula was expected to benefit the government by around $2.2 billion incremental revenue by way of higher taxes.
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