Household budgets: Tighten your purse strings as prices likely to go up

Rise in crude oil prices so far was the result of production cuts by the major oil-producing countries

On Wednesday, petrol and diesel consumers would have heaved a sigh of relief when Indian Oil Corporation’s website showed that their prices were being brought down by 60 paise a litre. But their euphoria proved short-lived, as the company changed its rates shortly. The new prices reduced the benefit to just 1 paisa a litre. 

Except for a two-week hiatus during the Karnataka elections, petrol and diesel prices have been on the boil. In the past one year, petrol prices in Delhi and Mumbai are up 20 per cent and 16 per cent while diesel has risen 20 per cent