Fuel prices saw another hike on Monday, 28 March. The price of petrol was hiked by 30 paise a litre and diesel by 35 paise. This was the sixth hike in fuel prices in the last week (since 22 March), following a four-and-half-month long hiatus in rate revision.
In Delhi, petrol and diesel prices stand at Rs 99.41 per litre and Rs 90.77 per litre respectively. In Mumbai, the petrol and diesel prices per litre are Rs 114.19 and Rs 98.50, up by 31 paise and 37 paise, respectively.
This comes after petrol and diesel prices were hiked on Sunday, 27 March, by 50 paise per litre and 55 paise per litre, respectively.
FM Links Price Hike to War in Ukraine
Until last week, fuel prices had been steady since November 2021 when the Centre reduced excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 5 and Rs 10 per litre, respectively.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had recently linked this surge to the ongoing war in Ukraine and the disruptions it has caused in the supply chain of of fuel.
The Finance Minister said:
"Even in 1951, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru could say that Korean war can affect Indian inflation. I’ll have to say, war anywhere can affect us. Today in a globally-connected world, it will affect definitely."
Meanwhile, Congress's Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, slammed the Centre for increasing fuel prices after the Assembly polls.
"We had warned people that BJP will increase fuel prices after polls. There was no change in fuel prices for 125 days before elections. Today there is huge inflation and employment in the country. They only talk about Hindutva and nationalism to gather votes," he said, as per ANI.
The Congress party had announced on Saturday, 26 March, that it will launch 'Mehngai Mukt Bharat Abhiyan,' a three-phase nation-wide protest against rising fuel prices between 31 March and 7 April.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)