Fuel prices may go down again: Deora

Reuters Posted: Jan 07, 2009 at 1419 hrs
New Delhi India may cut fuel prices again, Oil Minister Murli Deora said on Wednesday, a month after the government last lowered state-set rates for petrol and diesel.

"We are looking at reducing prices of petrol, diesel and LPG. We are trying. There is a possibility. I cannot give you any time frame," Deora told reporters.

India cut gasoline prices by 10 per cent and diesel by 6 per cent in the first week of December, when it also announced other measures to lift wobbly markets in a slowing economy.

The likely cut in fuel prices, ahead of general elections due by May, will further reduce inflation, which has already fallen to a near 10-month low of 6.6 per cent.

Analysts say low inflation may fuel further cuts in central bank interest rates to help India's $1 trillion economy, which is expected to grow about 7 per cent in 2008/09, slowing from a blistering 9 per cent in each of the previous three years.