Fuel In Mumbai Costs Almost Twice As Much In New York

Fuel costs have been ratcheted up to current levels by combined effects of rising Brent prices and numerous tax hikes over the past few years.

Indian pump prices are in unchartered territory as ever-increasing government levies coincide with crude's recovery from the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic. Fuel costs have been ratcheted up to current levels by the combined effects of rising benchmark Brent prices and numerous tax hikes over the past few years. The record-high gasoline and diesel prices are leaving some Indian car owners unable to afford the cost of using their vehicles and spurring the country's transport industry to agitate for change. Buying gasoline in major Indian cities such as Mumbai costs almost twice as much as in New York, casting a shadow on the recovery across Asia's second-largest oil guzzler as virus-related movement restrictions are eased. The federal government kept upping taxes last year even as it put the country into a national lockdown and global crude prices collapsed. Mumbai gasoline costs have risen by more than 25% over the past three years, while diesel prices have climbed by a third over the same period, according to data from Indian Oil Corp. The run-up in prices is adding to inflationary pressures to the Indian economy amid a broad commodity rally.