India fuel price hike fuels inflation pressure across sectors as crude risks rise
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: India’s petrol and diesel price hike, alongside a volatile crude oil outlook, is set to ripple across key sectors and is already feeding early market pressure, with analysts warning of further inflation if global oil prices climb.Oil marketing companies (OMCs) finally bit the bullet and raised prices of petrol and diesel by around ₹3 a litre on Friday amid elevated global prices. More hikes are expected going ahead as under-recoveries remain high.Higher fuel prices are expected to feed quickly into logistics and freight costs, with transport operators unlikely to absorb higher diesel expenses, triggering cost pass-through across supply chains and sectors dependent on transportation and energy-intensive inputs, potentially widening inflation pressures across the economy, according to experts.“We raise FY27 headline inflation to 5% versus 4.6% earlier assuming a ₹10 per litre hike in retail fuel prices, along with the impact of El Niño-led adverse monsoons,” said Madhavi Arora, chief economist at Emkay Global.The cost pressures come at a time when corporate earnings in consumption- and transport-linked sectors are already under strain from elevated input costs and uneven demand recovery.Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies are expected to face higher distribution and input costs, even as they continue to grapple with already elevated raw material inflation.Large FMCG players have already begun raising prices as fuel, packaging and food commodity costs continue to rise.