NEW DELHI: India must hike fuel prices to offset spiralling oil import bills, Premier Manmohan Singh said on Saturday, after refiners threatened to raise petrol prices to curb growing losses. 

 

"We need to rationalise prices and at the same time ensure that the poor and needy are shielded from the effects of such a rationalisation," Singh said in a speech at the opening of a refinery in the northern state of Punjab. 

 

"With imports accounting for 80 percent of our crude supplies, the spiralling prices of crude in the international market have put a severe strain on our import bill," he added, without offering details on the hike. 

 

 

 

Source: Times of India