India Pet-Trolled With Hike At Rs.7.50

It happens with people on Twitter in India; whenever they see a figure trending, they think it’s another scam’s cover blowing up. But this time "Rs.7.50" trending was not a scam but a hike announced by the oil companies. The hike was a nationwide narration and this step had to be taken due to the depreciation of the Indian Rupee in the world markets and the increase in VAT for fuel this financial year. The rupee on Monday fell to Rs. 55 to the United States Dollar against Rs. 46 last year. This subjected to a loss of Rs. 72,000 crore on account of rupee depreciation this year for the oil companies.

If the stats are correct, the oil companies, which had in the fiscal ending March 31, 2012 lost Rs. 4,860 crore on petrol sales, are now losing Rs. 6.28 a litre, making petrol valuable for Mumbaikars at Rs. 78.14 per litre. In Kolkata, the increase will be Rs. 7.85 per litre. Delhities would now have to pay Rs.73.14 a litre and Chennai would have to give out Rs.77.05 per litre. Be ready to shell out an extra buck or two if you prefer treat your vehicle with premium refined oil.

"This whole petrol price hike is clearly unreasonable, arbitrary and is condemned as it will put further inflationary pressure and lead to further rise in prices. Life of the common man will become more difficult and miserable," BJP's chief Spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said. A hike in the prices of LPG, CNG and Diesel would soon be seen, government officials say that it will soon be announced after the meeting headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee — on Friday or early next week.

Rising prices of fuel do have an effect on the public and the economy but the cascading aftereffects have much more adverse and disaterous consequences. Condemning the abrupt hike and leaving no opportunity to criticize and blister;  Mr Prakash Jaedkar, Spokesperson BJP, said, "We condemn the petrol price hike and seek its roll back. We will not allow it to happen. A strong democratic agitation is on the cards. This is no injustice and there is no justification for this." This is the highest hike experienced by the 'Aam Admi'; let us not use that term again, because now even the 'Aam Admi' cannot afford the Aam!

A glance of the old and current prices of petrol per litre

City	Earlier	Now
Delhi	Rs.65.64	Rs.73.14
Mumbai	Rs.70.66	Rs.78.16
Kolkata	Rs.70.03	Rs.77.53
Chennai	Rs.69.55	Rs.77.05