The Indian government faces mounting pressure to allow greater fuel price adjustments as elevated crude oil prices force state-run oil companies into mounting under-recoveries. According to reports from Business Standard, the government has hesitated to fully pass on higher costs to consumers, with price controls becoming increasingly unsustainable. With reserves depleting and supply risks mounting, policymakers may soon have to prepare for sharper fuel price increases and broader economic strain. The continuing Iran conflict and disruption in the Strait of Hormuz are exposing the fragility of global energy markets and complicating India's fiscal management. Recent developments show that India remains among a few countries like Madagascar that have not hiked fuel prices since the Middle East war began, with pump prices of petrol and diesel remaining at levels seen four years ago. In March, ahead of elections in some states, India's finance ministry reduced the excise duty on petrol from ₹13 to ₹3 per litre and diesel duty from ₹10 to zero, resulting in an estimated annual revenue loss of approximately ₹1.55 trillion.
The Indian government's ₹37,500 crore push for coal gasification represents a strategic shift to reduce dependence on imported energy and industrial feedstocks while extracting greater value from domestic coal reserves. As reported by Business Standard, by converting coal into syngas for chemicals, fertilisers, and hydrogen, the policy seeks to reposition coal from a power-generation fuel to an industrial raw material. While this could potentially strengthen energy security and lower import bills, gasification remains capital-intensive and technologically demanding, offering a value-added pathway for India's 'dirty' coal while balancing industrial realism with the long-term transition towards cleaner energy.
India's urban housing shortage, with deficits potentially reaching 7 crore homes, presents a major infrastructure and growth opportunity rather than a welfare challenge, according to Business Standard analysis. Amit Kapoor argues that affordable housing can generate substantial economic multipliers across construction, manufacturing, logistics, and finance while boosting employment and consumption. Current policies centered on home ownership largely exclude informal workers and low-income migrants who lack land or stable incomes, suggesting a publicly-backed rental housing model built on leased public land and regulated rents would be more effective.
Prasanna Tantri argues that India's inflation-targeting regime has successfully restored macroeconomic stability but at the cost of excessively tight monetary policy and weaker growth. As reported by Business Standard, the Reserve Bank of India relies too heavily on backward-looking inflation data, even though interest-rate decisions affect future economic conditions. The rigidity has repeatedly produced overly high real interest rates during periods of banking stress, supply-side inflation shocks, and slowing growth. The solution would be a more flexible, forward-looking framework that incorporates financial conditions, market signals, and better measures of inflation expectations alongside policymakers' judgement.
