Petrol and diesel prices are expected to spike this week as oil companies get ready to cut losses after they kept rates steady for more than four months before the assembly elections in five states.
International oil prices have jumped to a 13-year high of $140 per barrel.
Sources in the oil industry say that fuel prices need to be upped by 15 rupees a litre for retailers to come back up to break-even levels, according to a PTI report.
The five states that went to the polls are Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa, and Manipur.
On the other hand, the Indian rupee dropped to a record low of 77.01 per dollar on 7 March.
Brent, the international benchmark, briefly hit more than $139 a barrel on Tuesday, 8 March.
That is its highest spike since 2008.
The recent increase in oil prices comes in the backdrop of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which is expected to further cut the already limited oil supplies.
Russia, after all, is one of the world's largest energy producers.
Even before the war, prices were high due to the global economy demanding more energy and fuel, as countries started to emerge out of months-long COVID-19 induced lockdowns.
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