Indian motorists face dearer fuel

India has raised the prices of petrol and diesel for the first time in 20 months to help petrol dealers with sky-high oil prices.

The cost of petrol will increase by 2 rupees ($0.05), or 4.6% per litre, and diesel will rise by 1 rupee or 3.3%.
India spends billions of dollars subsidising fuel and the government has been reluctant to increase the price as the subsidies help keep down inflation.

Indian motorists enjoy some of the cheapest fuel in the world.

Motorists like Dina Vyas are not pleased about the latest increases.

She has been riding her motorbike in India for two decades now and has depended on the low cost of petrol.

“It will be very, very difficult. Other things will go up too – like rickshaws, buses, taxis because of these higher petrol prices.”

“It really is going to be very hard for us to bear this cost,” she said.

But the decision to raise fuel prices has been welcomed by Indian oil companies.

BBC