Limited impact

It was perhaps only a matter of time before the Union government acted to address public pressure on inflation, particularly emanating from rising fuel prices. The inflation based on the consumer price index surged to 7.8 per cent in April, while the wholesale price index rate spiked to 15.1 per cent. Thus, to ease some pressure, the government on Saturday lowered excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 8 and Rs 6, respectively. It also announced a subsidy of Rs 200 per gas cylinder for the beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. Besides petroleum products, in order to contain prices, it reduced import duty and increased export duty on certain kinds of steel products and raw materials used