Oil subsidy bill of Rs 32K crore yet to be paid to OMCs: Moily
Oil minister M Veerappa Moily has said the oil subsidy bill for the next fiscal could be understated. “I don’t want to go into numbers but we will have a bill of about Rs 32,000 crore pending from 2012-13”, he said at the Express Group’s Idea Exchange programme on Wednesday.
In Budget 2013-14 the finance ministry has projected a petroleum subsidy bill of Rs 65,000 crore. The number is about 33 per cent lower than the sum for 2012-13.
Moily suggested that instead of a cash inflow the public sector oil marketing companies can do with a Letter of Comfort from the finance ministry to pare their losses from selling subsidised diesel, LPG and kerosene.
The minister who met chiefs of these companies on Wednesday told them he will attempt to make the finance ministry give up the plan for a export-parity pricing for the sector.
Export parity pricing will worsen the financial condition of these firms eating into their ability to make investments.
The cut back in oil subsidy for the next fiscal is built on a shift to export parity pricing plan. In the export-parity regime, the companies would be losing the benefit of compensation of about Rs 17,600 crore a year.
“The (oil marketing companies) are facing high interest cost on their borrowings for their day-to-day operations. In fact 75 per cent of the loans are taken to service the previous debt liability. We hope the finance ministry at least sends the comfort letter of Rs
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