Soaring pump prices pose threat to India's recovery and inflation

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,