Commercial LPG cylinder price hiked by ₹250

Prices for commercial liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders were hiked by ₹250 on Friday, taking the cost of a 19-kg cylinder in the national capital to ₹2,253.

In Mumbai, a commercial cooking gas cylinder now costs ₹2,205. In Chennai, the price has been increased to ₹2,406 per cylinder, as per a price notification by state-owned oil retailers.

In Kolkata, the commercial LPG rate stood at ₹ 2,351.

The price of domestic cooking gas, however, remained unchanged. A 14.2-kg non-subsidised LPG cylinder costs ₹949.50 in New Delhi.

On March 1, the price of commercial LPG was hiked by ₹105 per cylinder and then on March 22, the same was cut by ₹9.

Meanwhile, the prices of petrol and diesel were kept unchanged on Friday. State-run oil marketing companies have raised fuel rates by ₹6.4 per litre over eleven days.

Fuel prices are changed twice every month based on the average price of the international benchmark in the preceding fortnight.

Fuel rates vary from state to state based on the incidence of local taxation. Fuel prices were kept on hold amid assembly elections in states like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.

Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price was raised by ₹2,258.54 per kilolitre, or 2%, to ₹1,12,924.83 per kl in the national capital.

This comes at a time when Brent crude – the international benchmark – is hovering above $100 a barrel amid supply concerns due to the Russia-Ukraine war.

Fortune India earlier reported that rising crude prices are expected to severely impact India's foreign exchange outgo, fiscal deficit and inflation numbers as the country imports around 85% of its annual oil requirement.

"Higher prices of fuels and items such as edible oils are likely to compress disposable incomes in the mid to lower income segments, constraining the demand revival in FY2023," Aditi Nayar, chief economist, ICRA, said in a report.

On Tuesday, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Russia-Ukraine crisis has led to a disruption of the global value chains likening the impact of the war to the pandemic. Responding to the debate on the Finance Bill in the Rajya Sabha, Sitharaman also pointed out that the Ukraine crisis and the unprecedented rise in the fuel prices are new challenges to the Indian economy.