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.