Gas prices: EGoM snubbed secretaries, ruled in RIL's favour

Former cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar and a group of secretaries had fiercely opposed the pricing formula suggested by the Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) for natural gas produced from the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin. Yet, the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by Pranab Mukherjee chose to ignore the secretaries' observations. It instead fix the gas price at $ 4.2 (about Rs 175.5) per million British thermal unit (mmbtu) - close to what the RIL had been demanding. In his 31-page report submitted to the EGoM on gas-pricing, a copy of which is with Mail Today, Chandrasekhar said it will not be "prudent" to approve the RIL's gas-pricing formula.

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