More fuel price hikes on the cards, no plans to cut down excise levy: Reports

After fuel prices in India saw a hike of about Rs 0.8 per litre after a period of four months, a CNBC-TV18 report suggests that this rise in petrol and diesel prices will continue in a staggered manner for a while, albeit in "small doses".

While the latest hike brought petrol prices in the National Capital Region (NCR) to Rs 96.21 a litre and diesel prices to Rs 87.47 a litre, oil marketing companies also increased LPG prices by almost Rs 50 per cylinder, taking the price of a standard 14.2 kg cylinder to about Rs 949.5 in Delhi. There are also no plans to cut down on the excise duties on the fuel for a while.

In the wake of the ongoing and escalating geopolitical crisis between Russia and Ukraine, with the former continuing to attack and invade its pro-West neighbour and sending global fuel prices in a tizzy, India remains in a tough spot, given that the country imports about 85 percent of its crude oil requirements. Globally, crude oil continues to fluctuate wildly between $97 and $139 a barrel.

India remains one of the only countries in the QUAD alliance, a group of countries consisting of the US, Australia, and Japan that continues to import its oil requirements from Russia.

However, it must be noted that crude oil imports from Russia constitute only a marginal part of its total imports, but given its high dependence on imported oil, a minor fluctuation in global oil prices has a major economic effect on India.