India to raise fuel prices from next week amid concern over inflation | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

India to raise fuel prices from next week amid concern over inflation | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

India will raise petrol and diesel prices next week for the first time in more than four months as global crude prices soar after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last week, three government officials said, amid growing concern about inflation. Asia’s third-largest economy, which imports 80% of its oil needs, faces retail inflation staying above the central bank’s tolerance limit of 6% as companies pass on a nearly 40% rise in crude prices since November, as well as rises in prices for other imported raw materials, economists said. State-run oil companies, which control the domestic market, have not raised prices since Nov. 4. “The oil companies would be free to raise prices in a phased manner once the election is over on March 7,” a senior government official with the knowledge of internal discussions on oil prices told Reuters. State oil companies have told the government that they need a price increase of 10-12 rupees per litre for petrol and diesel, a second official said. A senior official at a staterun oil marketing company confirmed that they were facing difficulites though he declined to give figures. “We are incurring huge losses,” the oil marketing company official said. The government was unlikely