India to Keep Fuel Prices in Check

India is looking at ways to keep rising fuel prices in check, its oil minister said on Monday, with retail rates for diesel and gasoline touching record highs in capital city New Delhi and financial hub Mumbai.  Prices at the pump have surged on the back of rallying international markets for crude oil, which last week hit their strongest since late-2014 amid ongoing production cuts led by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Reuters reported.  “Various alternatives are being looked at,” India's Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said in a televised speech, adding that he would “work out something soon”.  Opposition leaders have criticized the government for failing to rein in rising fuel prices, a politically-sensitive issue in one of the world’s biggest economies.  India is particularly at risk from stronger global prices for crude oil, as it is the No.3 importer of the commodity. The cost of the growing thirst for oil around Asia will surpass $1 trillion this year, about twice as much as in 2015 and 2016.