India raises cooking gas, jet fuel prices

New Delhi: India raised on Friday the prices of commercial liquified petroleum gas and jet fuel for international airlines, according to a state-run energy firm, as supply pressures from the Iran war mount.

The South Asian nation is heavily dependent on imported energy, including for roughly 60 percent of its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), the fuel used for cooking by a vast section of its population, the largest in the world.

As imports have been disrupted since the Middle East war began in late February, New Delhi has moved to ensure households and essential sectors remain adequately supplied, leaving many restaurants, manufacturers and power plants in the lurch.

The government has maintained India faces no overall fuel shortage.

“Prices of bulk and commercial LPG cylinders have been revised,” the state-run Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), the country’s leading energy marketing company, said.

IOCL’s price chart shows an increase of Rs993 ($10.50) in the price of a 19-kilogramme LPG cylinder meant for commercial use.

That amounts to a nearly 48-percent rise in the capital New Delhi. Local levies mean rates vary across cities.

The sharp hike will hit restaurants particularly hard, with many already scaling back operations during the Middle East war.

The oil company said that the price of jet fuel for international airline operations has also “been adjusted upward”.

Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) has gone up by around five percent in Delhi, according to IOCL’s catalogue.